Wow: Marion Deuchars' Menus for Carluccio's

I went with my family to try out the new Carluccio's off Marylebone High Street, on Paddington Street, late this afternoon. It was the first time we'd felt inspired to set foot in a Carluccio's in a long time. I had a great Affogato and the girls had ice cream. This Carluccio's is a surprise: it's quite neighborhoody in its feel and distinctly removed from the usual Carluccio's chain feel. It has a laidback intimate atmosphere and the staff are super friendly and easygoing. We were served by Bianca, who was great. A really nice way to relax on a Sunday afternoon. The icing on the cake was noticing the incredible menus which are illustrated by Marion Deuchars. Oh my god, my seven year old daughter said. Is it the same Marion Deuchars who made my book, Let's Make Some Great Art?! I love that book!

Yes, it is the same Marion Deuchars, as in ace illustrator Marion Deuchars.

And a quick google on getting home reveals Deuchars has been collaborating with Carluccio's since last Summer. Here's a blog post she wrote in July 2011 about the work: “(It's) an ongoing project (relationship)  to provide 6 menus a year for Carluccio's Restaurants. The job is like being an 'artist in residence" I use the cafe, draw there throughout the year and compile a 'sketchbook' of things happening at Carluccio's . I then use that source material to compile the seasonal menus. It's a dream job, I like sitting in cafes, I like food, I like to draw both.”

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Six Of The Best Yoga and Pilates Teachers in London

After ten years of taking Yoga classes around London (every conceivable style, with hundreds of teachers, in many centres and spaces), it feels like I've got a good perspective to throw down a list of Yoga teachers who, in my humble opinion, teach some of the best Yoga classes you can take in London. And in the past year, I've tried out some Pilates classes too and so I'm adding a couple of Pilates teachers to that list, too. 

There are a few things to mention: I don't follow any one style of Yoga. When I took a random Iyengar class last Summer at the newly opened Indaba Yoga centre in London's Marylebone, the teacher said to me, I don't understand how you can have been practising Yoga for ten years and you don't have a teacher you follow, a style of Yoga you are committed to. 

Her saying this surprised me, because I believe that life is constantly changing and with it, so is what we need. I have had eras in my life when I only studied Sivananda Yoga, eras when I only studied Kundalini Yoga, eras when I only studied at the Jivamukti Yoga centre in Kensal Rise (when the centre opened, I took some incredible classes with centre co-founder Manizeh Rimer: in fact, some of the best classes I ever took were with Manizeh), eras when I was only into Vinyasa/ Flow/ Dynamic yoga, eras when I only wanted gentle hatha yoga classes. And eras, like now, when Pilates is important to me. In short, what I need from Yoga and Pilates rotates, shifts: I go where the calling is. The last disclaimer is this: I don't like Yoga or Pilates classes with male teachers: it doesn't work for me: it's like being back at school and getting harangued by the balding, hairy P.E teacher. So I'm not recommending any male teachers, here. Those, you'll have to discover yourself. 

All that out the way, right now, if you're new to London, visiting London or new to Yoga and Pilates and looking for a way-in Yoga or Pilates class in London, I'd point you towards these six outstanding teachers, who are all in their own unique ways, quite luminous. 

1. Leila Sadeghee (Yoga)

Leila teaches Anusara Inspired yoga at the Life Centre, Indaba Yoga, Triyoga, Yoga Place as well as offering private small group and one to one classes. I was introduced to Leila's classes in a roundabout way: I really wanted (needed) to go to a Yoga class one Sunday morning and the only class on at the Life Centre in Notting Hill at a time that suited me was an Anusara Yoga inspired class with Lisa Sanfilippo: I had no idea what Anusara Yoga was, but went anyway and really liked the style of Yoga. At that class, Lisa said she was handing this regular class over to a fellow Anusara Yoga inspired teacher called Leila: next week, I took the class with Leila and loved it. Her classes are highly inspiring and entertaining. Leila talks a lot. During an asana, she might tell a story about a boyfriend, assume a Muppet voice, regale anecdotes about her love of cop shows on TV or change tone and tell a serious story about an inner struggle. For a while she ran an incredible private group class on Wimpole street in Marylebone: a kooky, shambolic class in a creaky old flat. The classes ran on for anywhere up to two and a half hours. The eleven or twelve students who took the class were all amazing people and the ambience and spirit was great. I used to call those classes the Yoga equivalent of a Bruce Springsteen concert. They came to an end because Leila had the space on a short let. These days, she teaches an especially upbeat, inspiring class at the Life Centre (Notting Hill) on a Sunday morning. She absolutely lives for teaching Yoga and her students and once you know her, she has a funny habit of popping up in your everyday life, suddenly calling out, Hi Nick, when you're in the supermarket or walking down the street: always a nice surprise. If I want a Yoga class that turns the inspiration up, turns the energy up, empowers me in a sort of Deepak Chopra meets intense workout way, I go to a class with Leila Sadeghee. More on her work here: www.leilasadeghee.com

2. Sarah Scharf (Yoga)

Sarah teaches at the Life Centre, Yoga Place, Holistic Health and also privately. I was introduced to Sarah Scharf's classes in Summer 2011 in much the same way I was introduced to Leila's classes. I spontaneously went down to the Life Centre Notting Hill and there was a class on with a cover teacher called Sarah Scharf. The class was hugely grounding and relaxing. Sarah was very calm, very West Coast U.S, very experienced and had a fantastic command of pacing. I can't stand Yoga classes that have a jumpy rhythm; that leave you feeling out of breath rather than in control of your breath. Sarah Scharf runs a smooth class and you leave feeling like you took a really good daytime nap: that great  brakes on feeling after a Yoga class where a few hours later you have a split second of thinking, Wait what did I do earlier? I took all of Sarah's cover classes last Summer and then recently made the hectic rush hour journey across London just to take her now regular Thursday morning class at The Life Centre Islington. If I want a Yoga class to calm me down, ground, my choice of class would be any with Sarah Scharf. More here: www.yoginisarah.org

3. Zephyr Wildman (Yoga)

Zephyr teaches at the Life Centre Notting Hill and privately. She teaches few classes and the timings haven't worked for me for ages. But there was a lovely period in my life when my schedule allowed me to only take classes with Zephyr and every single class was incredibly inspiring. Zephyr teaches dynamic Yoga and if you want to get in shape and get a spiritual buzz at the same time, Zephyr can't be topped. Part of her area of expertise is Yoga as a support for depression and addiction/ dependency issues, which is why I gravitated to her classes in the first place. If you want to blow the roof off your Yoga practice, this is the teacher. Scheduling permitting, I'm hoping to get to a class with Zephyr this Summer. 

4. Sam Cunningham (Yoga)

Sam teaches at the Life Centre Notting Hill and Islington and other places. I first came across her classes after looking for a class to go to at the Life Centre Notting Hill and stumbling across her teacher bio. Once I saw where she was coming from (much the same place I came to Yoga from), the click was instant: "I did my first shoulder stand from a book my mother kept, Wake Up To Yoga, when I was seven. I bunked off school to read books on Zen in Swiss Cottage library when I was 14. At the age of 21 I chose the route of drugs. At 28 I got clean from drugs and pursued yoga seriously. I've trained in Sivananda and Ashtanga methods. I come to class with no plan, I teach drawing on sequencing techniques taught by Krishnamacharya, concentrating on breath and drishti to intensify the practice." I take irregular classes with Sam and one of the things I love most about her classes is that she makes every single student in the room feel noticed: no mean feat, when you have a packed class. She is also one of those rare teachers who can implement a lot of corrections without making you feel criticised or like you're doing the class 'wrong'. If you want to bunker down and get some space in your life to think, then Sam's class is the place to go. 

5. Antonia Ptohides (Pilates)

Antonia teaches Pilates at Indaba Yoga. I recently discovered her Pilates class quite by chance and it's now my go to Pilates class. She's got great energy, a very natural sense of pacing and good attention to detail.

6. Beata Ghavimi (Pilates)

My wife on the other hand reckons the best Pilates class in London is at the Life Centre Notting Hill with Beata Ghavimi. She has taken a class with Beata every Wednesday morning for a long time now and swears by it.

Veja - The Most Ethically Produced Trainers You Can Wear?

Almost three years ago, I decided to drop by Aime, a boutique on Ledbury Road, in West London's Notting Hill, to pick up a replacement A.P.C orange blossom candle.

As I was leaving the store, I noticed they had these very cool trainers in the window with the letter V emblazoned on the side. I double-checked to be sure they weren't New Balance trainers laid at a funny angle, so the N appeared as a V, but no, it was definitely a V and the tongues of the trainers had the word 'Veja' on them

Knowing full well that sisters, Vanda and Val, who own and run Aime (and now Petit Aime) have impeccable taste and set trends light years before anyone else (they were stocking Isabel Marant long before anyone else in London woke up to Marant's talents), I went home and googled Veja and discovered that Veja (aside from meaning "See" or "Look" in Portuguese) was a Paris, France based company, producing a small range of ethically produced trainers. Founded by Sébastien Kopp and Francois-Ghislain Morillion in 2004, Veja launched in 2006, their brand built on impeccable environmentally savvy credentials. 

Veja's founders

Fed up with wearing through a pair of Converse every six months, I tracked Veja trainers down to Poste for men on South Molton Street and bought my first pair: grey canvas Taua. 

The shoe itself was made from organic cotton. According to Veja's website, this is sourced from Ceara, a state in North East Brazil. Veja buy cotton from a network of 320 families, who work in organic farming. They are paid a fair price. The cotton is spun then weaved into canvas. The rubber soles are made to the same high ethical standards. Veja source rubber from rubber tappers who work in the Chico Mendes Reserve in the Amazon. A radical method is used which allows the tappers to create sheets of rubber, ready for the factory, without any industrial process. 

The trainers only cost £59 and were incredibly comfortable so I went for a second pair not long after:  a pair of brown Taua leather from Selfridge's, which were more expensive (£79 if I remember correctly) but just as comfortable. Overnight, I only owned two pairs of shoes: both made by Veja.  

Again, with the leather Taua, there was a production story: Veja only use "eco-tanned" leather from Porto Alegre, created with a vegetable extract. This method causes less pollution than traditional tanning.

Like all Veja products, the trainers were manufactured at a factory in Vale Dos Sinos, in South Brazil. There, Veja ensure workers' rights are respected, fair wages are paid and overtime is paid accordingly. An estimated 80% of the factory's worked are union represented.  

For transportation, Veja do not freight their products by air. They instead ship their products from Porto Alegre at the very South of Brazil to Le Havre in France. Quite brilliantly, the trainers are then moved from Le Havre to the Veja warehouse on the outskirts of Paris, by canal boat. There, in an office powered by green electricity, trainers are packed in beautiful recycled boxes, which can also be recycled by consumers. 

In short, when you buy a pair of Veja, there is complete  production transparency, allowing the consumer to witness the journey from design to rubber being tapped out of a tree in the Amazonian rainforest right through to a pair of trainers ending up on your feet. 

This production model, though, as Veja, admits, is tough for a business. Their "fabrication costs" are three to four times higher than other footwear producers, because of the way they source the materials that become their trainers, bags and wallets. They deal with this in their business model by having like early mentor Agnes b, a 'no advertising policy': what they save on this, they can put back into financing those eye watering production costs. 

The only thing that didn't work well for me early on with Veja were the laces, which snapped really easily. I sent Veja an email telling them and asked if they had plans to sell replacement laces on their website. A customer services rep emailed back saying things like this were teething issues for a new company and that they'd look into the matter. I was wowed when she had a courier (bicycle naturally) express two new pairs of laces to me. Talk about impeccable customer service. The laces on subsequent pairs of Vejas that I've bought, are comparatively toughened. 

Veja has been operating for six years now and today also manufactures very cute trainers for children. Among their high profile fans, they count Charlotte Gainsbourg and Marion Cotillard. 

Last week, I bought my sixth pair of Vejas (a second pair of grey canvas Taua), from Diverse Clothing on Upper Street. I do not own a car. I do not own a bicycle. I prefer to walk whenever possible and consequently give any shoes I wear an absolute pavement pounding, so in the end, yes, Vejas do wear through too. But in my opinion, there is no better trainer you can buy. They are affordable, comfortable, very cool (thanks for yet another tip off, Vanda and Val) and when you buy them, you know that you are supporting a company who are in turn supporting their suppliers who in turn are supporting communities in Brazil who need that help. When you consider all of that, it's hard not to see Veja as creators of the most ethically produced trainers you can wear. 

For more info visit http://www.veja.fr