On 1 October I was invited to “Take a Seat”, the Design Guild Dinner hosted by Soho House’s Cities Without Houses programme in partnership with contemporary design studio Slancha. The evening celebrated design from Birmingham and the West Midlands, and it was one of the most thoughtfully put-together events I’ve been to this year.
A warehouse that was allowed to breathe
The dinner took place in a vast industrial hall in Birmingham: exposed brick, steel trusses and the old crane gantry still running overhead. Rather than trying to fill the space, the team let it breathe. A handful of long tables sat in pools of light in the middle of the floor, surrounded by sculptural mounds of moss and a lot of deliberate darkness. Walking in, the effect was calm, cinematic and completely memorable.
Seating as the centrepiece
True to the name, the seats were the star. Guests sat on a collection of stools by Birmingham and West Midlands designers, including Super Ornament and Safiyya Lea, many of them in brushed and polished metal that drew on the region’s making heritage. Tall candles in aluminium holders ran down crisp white tables, and every place setting had a kraft envelope tied with string, holding the story of the evening and the people behind it.
Behind the bar, Room Two served cocktails from a stainless steel counter under a single spotlight, which suited the industrial setting perfectly.
What I took away as an event planner
- Let the venue do the talking. A raw, characterful space needs less dressing than you think. Light where people are, and let the rest fall away.
- Give guests something to keep. The envelope at each seat turned a menu into a keepsake, and it was still on my desk the next morning.
- Celebrate local. Building the evening around Midlands designers gave it a story that no imported theme could match.
- Design the details people touch. Guests remember what they sit on, hold and take home far more than what hangs on the walls.
It was a brilliant reminder of how much creativity there is on our doorstep in Birmingham and the West Midlands. Thank you to Soho House and Slancha for having me.
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