Upon returning from New York, founder Kristen Hazel wanted to create a nail bar with quality products and convenient hours. London Grace has become an award winning nail bar, cafe and bar with their own collection of free-from nasties nail polishes.

What is your background and how did it lead you to starting London Grace?

I started my first business ‘Party Staff Ltd’ at 16, after recognising the need for waiter and bar staff in my local area. A year later I had 60+ staff on my books, providing waiting staff for up to 16 events a week. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial personality; I enjoy spotting problems and coming up with solutions. After graduating I worked for a consultancy in the city but quickly realised that working for a large corporation was not for me and missed the buzz of running my own business. The idea for London Grace was conceived in the autumn of 2013. Having studied in New York where a manicure and a coffee was a way of life and one that was available around a working day and at the weekend, I returned and noticed the lack of choice and quality of nail bars. I began to look at ways to transform the maintenance of a weekly manicure, into a fun, social experience.

Where have your biggest influences come from?

I come from a family of entrepreneurs and inventors so you might say it’s in my genes! Other leading ladies in business like Tamara Mellon (Jimmy Choo) and Bobbi Brown inspired me to take the leap and leave my job as a technology consultant to start London Grace. One of the great advantages of our customer facing business is that we are in constant contact with our clients, who of course influence us. For example, if our clients feel there is a colour missing from our palette then we can incorporate this when we launch our next polish collection.

What were the biggest challenges that you faced when setting up London Grace?

With no prior experience in the beauty industry, launching the business was a challenge in the first place. However, the advantage was that I was able to look at everything with a fresh perspective and I quickly learned the importance of having a good team with complementing strengths. I felt it was important to develop our own range of polishes that are five-free to promote the London Grace ethos of healthy, happy nails. We also streamlined our treatment menu with a ‘no nonsense’ approach, so unlike many other nail bars we don’t offer acrylics, nail art and our treatments performed are dry. It is a challenge communicating a new message but we’ve found that letting your knowledge guide you and committing to a clear brand ethos attracts your target market.

How important have your properties been to the success of London Grace?

Our aim is to build a High Street brand so the properties and locations we’ve chosen have greatly contributed to our success. As our stores in Putney and Clapham are in prime High Street locations, they are convenient for clients to reach with great transport connections and having popular shops and restaurants nearby makes the locations even more of a destination to visit.

Will there be more stores in the future?

Absolutely, the idea with London Grace has always been to create a brand, not just another one off beauty salon on the High Street. We have a clear strategy outlining the key locations where we would like to open stores, both in London and across the UK.

Where do you feel the beauty market is heading?

Consumers are definitely becoming more savvy to the ingredients in products they’re using, so our free from nasties polish and ‘healthy, happy nails’ ethos are positively received. We are also looking forward to exploring the way smart technology can build and strengthen relationships between brands and their audience.

www.londongrace.co.uk

James Gold, Richard Gold and Lewis Blitz co-founded Skinnydip after seeing a major gap in the fashion accessory market.

You have achieved so much for such a young team, is your age an advantage or a drawback?

I think the biggest advantage of our age is our lack of fear. We run Skinnydip in a very direct, fast paced manner cutting out middle management and reacting directly and quickly to new opportunities which I believe has been integral for our growth.

At what point did the idea turn from a concept into reality?

Launching our first concession into Topshop Oxford Circus in August 2013 was our first foray into retailing. We achieved our weekly sales target in a day and loved the responsibility of being in control of what the range looked liked and how it was displayed in store. Two and half years on, to walk down Oxford Street and see Skinnydip products on so many people is such a great feeling.

Do more stand alone stores feature in the growth plan for the business?

At the moment we are quite happy with our portfolio which is dominated by our concessions with a few key stand-alone stores. However, should the right opportunity present itself and we believed it would benefit Skinnydip and introduce the brand to a new customer, it is something we would definitely consider. One area we are very interested in is international expansion, in particular in the US and Japan, two territories where we receive huge traffic on our website.

How important is a combined internet/bricks and mortar approach for your core consumer?

It is essential. Online continues to grow rapidly for us and in terms of revenue, is our number one store. However, what you don’t get online is the ‘experience’ aspect that is the most important element of our bricks and mortar locations. Skinnydip has built up a cult following by being different to every other brand in the market and we try and show this by offering the most incredible customer experience we can. We throw regular in store parties and whether it’s having DJ’s in store, nail bars, braid bars or just handing out a selection of donuts or sweets, we ensure something is always going on. In turn, we have found this leads to increased brand loyalty and in turn drives customers either online or back into store.

As entrepreneurs at such an early age, will you ever be able to work for anyone else?

Who knows what the future holds but having started Skinnydip straight out of university, it would be difficult!

What part of your role at Skinnydip do you enjoy the most and why?

Seeing the growth of the brand, especially over the last year has been beyond enjoyable. From starting with just my brother and best friend to the current team of over 50 people all working to try and build one of the biggest accessory brands in the world makes going into the office every day a pleasure. Also, just walking down Carnaby Street and seeing the Skinnydip shopfront never feels real and is something that has made all the hard work worthwhile.

www.skinnydiplondon.com/

I first stumbled across Black Barn Winery in New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay in 2011. It was a chance encounter but it was one of those perfect moments. Most wineries in Hawkes Bay keep it simple with a cellar door where you sample some of the best wines that New Zealand has to offer, buy a bottle or two and maybe a box of artisan cheese wafers and a jar of dukka. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this approach but we discovered that Black Barn has taken things to the next level and provides the perfect setting for a brasserie where you can lunch beneath a huge pergola laden with vines or sit in the airy dining room looking out over the top of the pergola and to the wine country and Te Mata Peak beyond.

Despite its semi-rural location, the kitchen turns out food which would grace the table of most restaurants that I have had the pleasure to enjoy in London – using the freshest of local Hawkes Bay produce but with a distinctive kiwi twist. We enjoyed every delicious mouthful and the combination of the food, a chilled bottle of aromatic riesling and the most amazing setting left us with memories to cherish.

On our return in 2015 I was worried that we might be disappointed, that our second visit might not live up to the memory of the first. I needn’t have worried. Our lunch in the brasserie was wonderful and furthermore the recently opened Black Barn Kitchen, which sells all sorts of local produce and kitchen and home-wares, provided lots of ideas for gifts for family and friends and even something for ourselves!

During the summer months Black Barn also holds a local growers and producers market every Saturday morning and also has an outdoor amphitheatre, set into the hillside, which hosts evening cinema and concerts. Black Barn still produces some great wine but has built a destination and is a great example of “place-making” at its best.

UK Cycling is now reportedly worth a massive £2.9bn, and is a huge factor in the lifestyles of many. Bruce Gillingham Pollard has experienced first hand the growth of cycling, witnessing the emergence of a number of concept stores, and in addition, new more targeted bike shops such as Look Mum No Hands and Bespoke, as well as the expansion of spin concepts such as Bespoke and Boom. However, Rapha have now gone one step further. Not content with wearing their clothes on or off your bike, or hanging out in their coffee shop, the serious cyclist can now join them on holiday. So for those who really want to get fit this year, or are going through a mid life crisis, why not join Rapha on one of their international retreats.

For the first time in 2015, you can book one of just 12 places, for the Rapha Retreat Down Under, which coincides with the 17th edition of the highest ranking UCI Pro Tour race outside of Europe. Starting in Adelaide, you will stay in 5 star boutique hotel The Playford, Adelaide’s first ‘art hotel’. Guests get the chance to watch 5 stages of the race, as well as enjoy guided rides on a variety of terrain, with experience mechanics and Soigneur support on hand to look after you and your bike.

If Australia is too far afield, you could consider joining Rapha for one of the legs of the Cent Cols Challenge 2015 a ten stage event, climbing 4,500 metre with an average daily cycle of 200k. You can expect to be on your bike for 8-10 hours a day, so this is not for the faint hearted. With a support caravan, accommodation, meals and back up, you too can feel like a professional cyclist in either, Corisca, Southern Alps, Pyrenees, Cantabrico or Cevennes. If the preparation for this during the next 6 months doesn’t get you fit, then nothing will!

Viewed and spoken about as a ‘laboratory’, Loredana Mandas’ shop in Cagliari is somewhere for people to watch and experience the fascinating process of her creating hand-made jewellery typical of Sardinia’s history and the island’s deep craft traditions. One of the few filigree jewellery artisans in southern Sardinia, the shop window is totally overwhelmed by unique pieces of artwork from traditional jewellery to geometric motifs, pendants, earrings and rings embellished with precious and semi-precious stones.

Loredana Mandas’ shop is a must for those who appreciate high-quality, handmade jewellery and want to see genuine Sardinian craftsmanship. In an appealingly old fashioned way, Loredana lives above the shop and so ring the bell and wait for her to appear for a personal and bespoke service.

Although without the obvious majesty of our own Burlington Arcade, it’s somewhere that continues to operate in a way that is very familiar to how our London arcades started out life, with the leaseholders living above or below the shop (6 of whom where women), sharing the space with their stock, and illustrating their expertise in front of the customer. Loredana Mandas’ store succeeds in transporting people back to a time when people genuinely lived and breathed their crafts in an environment that has natural theatre with “soft sell” retailing reliant on the customer falling for the product and its provenance.

On the Launceston to Plymouth road is a new venture by Anton Piotrowski, the 2012 winner of Masterchef and his head chef Ali who have been working together for the past 10 years. Eight of us went for a  family lunch on bank holiday Saturday.

From the outside it feels very much like a traditional Cornish pub but the food is why you go here though, it was great. Stylish, simple food with great flavours and the odd pleasurable twist. The duck pancakes were particularly good, as was the steak suet pudding. The service was fantastic and the lovely staff brought the kids’ lunch within seconds along with some great wine and local beer.

The whole family left happy, even Grandad who picked up the very reasonable bill.  As my banker brother-in-law pointed out, “when you factor in the pricing in comparison to a quality London restaurant, this place is off the chart!”  The outskirts of Launceston just got a little better!

Mitsubishi have over 120 years’ ownership in Tokyo’s central business district and now own over 30 mixed use buildings within the 120 hectares that make up Marunouchi. Mitsubishi have proactively engaged in maximising the retail and restaurants elements of their development which include internal malls, so common with the rest of Asia.

However, it is the external  retail units where I think the retail is at its most successful, as they have combined first class public realm, soft landscaping, wide pavements and external seating to create a calm relaxed atmosphere so contrasted to the rest of Tokyo. This high quality environment is further enhanced as each building has been individually designed, using a range of materials.

This has created an environment where retailers have adopted  individual styles at both ground and first floor, providing maximum impact and emphasising their brand. Key brands such as Hermes, Paul Smith, Comme de Garson, Jo Malone, and Burberry are all represented within the mix but located adjacent to restaurants and cafés which help drive footfall and helps create a more organic feel.

www.marunouchi.com/e