12 minute read
Meet The Neighbours
MEET THE NEIGHBOURS Azzy Asghar visits three fabulously Knightsbridge is perhaps the most eclectic and wonderful area of the capital and what makes it so special are the residents. We meet a few of them and learn a little about their lives...
JACKIE ST. CLAIR
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Jackie is a lifelong resident of the area. She is a passionate ornithologist who has created a large wildlife-friendly garden in her beautiful home complete with beehives, ponds, 47 bird nest boxes, hedgehogs and more. She invites Inner City children from social housing for a nature talk most days. She is also great friends with natural historian Sir David Attenborough.
Jackie and her husband Carl Michaelson also host the most magnificent and truly glamorous annual Summer Party in their garden for 300 guests, many from the world of entertainment.
MARIA ELENA INFANTINO
Maria Elena Infantino is an International Singer and Actress who speaks 5 languages fluently (Italian, French, Spanish, Bulgarian and English) and sings in 7. Half Italian, half Bulgarian, she grew up in Rome and is the daughter of two opera singers, tenor Luigi Infantino and soprano Raina Nikolova Infantino.
She graduated in acting at ALRA in London (Academy of Live and Recorded Arts) in 2010. Her first job out of Drama School was at the Royal Albert hall, singing for the 50th Beatles Anniversary, starring Dame Shirley Bassey. She then debuted as a professional actress on the ITV British series 'Emmerdale'.
Following that, in January 2011, she hosted and produced her one woman show in the West End, at the Leicester Square Theatre, as a tribute to her famous father, the tenor Luigi Infantino, performing her father's song, that was also in 'The Godfather part 2'. She was also nominated for the 21st annual L.A. Music Awards as best International artist.
Subsequently she created her one woman show on legendary Edith Piaf, which premiered in Los Angeles at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre, at the Lee Strasberg Institute. Among the many successes that this show generated for Maria, is the inauguration of the Piaf and Miles Davis forever stamp, celebrating the French Artist’s 50th Anniversary, at the Rubin Museum in New York.
EDA DOGAN
Charming, Knightsbridge resident Eda is the owner and creative director of BY EDA DOGAN, a jewellery brand which she founded in London in 2016. Born in Turkey, Eda established her refined taste for timeless jewellery and exquisite craftsmanship from an early age and set up her jewellery line at the age of only 19, shortly after arriving in London. Her international upbringing exposed her to both fashion and design and defined her classic, yet modern identity.
Eda creates timeless, gold, and silver jewellery pieces with a goal of speaking to every woman. The beautiful jewellery collection embodies Eda's modern, feminine spirit. www.byedadogan.com
PHILIP HANSON
Knightsbridge resident Philip is a young driver to watch, in the field of endurance sportscar racing. During his short career he has already smashed records and competed in prestigious races such as Le Mans 24 and Rolex 24 Hours, at Daytona. Phil was crowned World Endurance Champion; the youngest driver to achieve this, won the European Le Mans Series and was the youngest ever Brit to win the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans, in September 2020. He’s the first driver to ever win Le Mans and hold both the WEC and ELMS titles in the same year.
Phil says “I love Knightsbridge and feel privileged to live locally, it’s one of my favourite places in the city. It offers fantastic shopping and is local to a lot of restaurants and cafés that are all within short walking distances. Fitness is key to my job so I would recommend Equinox or Barry's Bootcamp in Eccleston Place a little further afield.”
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
LINLIN ZHANG
Knightsbridge resident, Linlin is a highly-motivated, next-gen entrepreneur focused on building beauty businesses. Hailing from China, Linlin originally moved to the UK to study Business and having a passion for beauty innovations she learnt all about the best techniques and procedures. Her life motto is “Don’t be afraid to dream”. She believes that with hard work dreams will come true. She broke into the beauty industry utilising her skills in innovation to develop a business that combines her passions of aesthetics, skincare, and wellness.
Linlin is the proud owner of Zenabia Medispa which she founded in late 2020 and is in the process of expanding to South Kensington and then Chelsea in 2023. She aspires to deliver the very best beauty treatments, providing her Knightsbridge clientele with cutting-edge technology. She also imparts confidence and relaxation to her growing band of loyal customers.
Contact Zenabia Medispa to book an appointment and receive 25% discount quoting “Knightsbridge Magazine” on 020 3773 2661
www.zenabia.com
ANNETTE FOULDS
Annette Foulds, better known as Annie is a 53 year old Endurance runner, Personal Trainer/Mental Certified/Charity Ambassador for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and is currently studying to be a Life Coach. She is married to Stephen Foulds, a Brand Ambassador for Rolls Royce Motorcars, London for over 30 years. They have been together for 28 years and lived locally for 26 years and have two wonderful sons, Jack, 22 years old, a model with Next Model Management and Harry, 17 years old, a pupil at Millfield School – both are former pupils of Hill House School, Knightsbridge.
Annie says, "For fun and charity, I have successfully completed some of the toughest running events in the world, taking me to the Sahara and South Africa. I have 89 finishing medals endured many setbacks, but I won’t be beaten! I remain happy, optimistic and strong!
Since starting my work here in Knightsbridge I have never looked back. During the past thirteen years I have met and trained some of the most amazing people who live in Knightsbridge, Kensington and Chelsea."
TIM HASSELL
Tim is Managing Director of Draker Lettings, the owner of the largest privately owned boutique letting agency in Knightsbridge. The team at Draker are long- and short-term rental experts, serving Knightsbridge residents for over 12 years.
When Tim is not behind his desk in Sloane Square or valuing a client’s property, he is meeting clients and colleagues, either in Colbert (he practically has a desk there) at The Beaverbrook Townhouse or Harrys Dolce Vita.
With a second office at Pavilion, Tim can be seen striding up Sloane Street for meetings and team appraisals.
Tim says, “Always buy flowers from Alfie at The Flower Smith in Sloane Square, they are always the freshest. For all Apple lovers, the newly opened Apple Store on Brompton Road is out of this world and completes the recent development of the area perfectly.”
Tim can often be seen when not at work with his partner, Swedish interior designer Anders Olsson and their three beautiful whippets, Primo, Greta and Minnie.
KIMBERLEIGH GELBER
Kimberleigh is a South African newsreader and television presenter who moved to London and New York for ITV and NBC contracts after many successful years entertaining children on a hugely popular television channel in South Africa.
One of her most talked about interviews was with President Nelson Mandela after his release from prison in 1990. The interview was unique as it was the first time a child had interviewed the iconic man and saw Kimberleigh winning many international awards for excellence in television.
When she left South Africa and moved to London, to host a travel show exploring exotic hotels around the world, her production company put her up at the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge.
She had never been to London before so when she walked across the road to Hyde Park and saw the majestic swans roaming freely she knew this was special. When she sampled the endless food halls at Harrods, she knew she would be a Knightsbridge girl forever.
Her favourite store is Manolo Blahnik of which Kimberleigh has a vast and colourful collection of the iconic Hangisi heels which were made very popular in the show Sex And The City. Kim helped Darren Star, the shows creator, come up with ideas for season 1 in 1998 when they had no writers and no one was interested in the show as it was deemed far too edgy for television.
SAKSHI MITTAL
Scion of an internationally renowned family – the entrepreneur and local resident Sakshi recently launched FoodHak. Already transforming meal times with its vegan, ready-to-eat dishes delivered to your door, this ground-breaking new brand is at the intersection of technology, sustainability, food science and health. FoodHak takes all the clinical research on food and then combines this knowledge with ingredients renowned for healing properties to create great tasting dishes that will boost every aspect of the human body.
www.foodhak.com
JANA JUNELE
Founder and Visionary of Wirk World, Jana is a meritocratic forward thinker and future-driven young female entrepreneur, with a never ending curious spirit and passion for perfection combined with the desire to continually redefine the limits of what is possible. Jana is ambitious for change on a global scale and is aiding digital and social transformation for future generations, especially for the gig economy that started in the heart of Knightsbridge.
Wirk platform has been carefully designed to break through the barriers of entry for those who are unable to receive education or find work. Wirk truly adapts Jana’s uniquely luxurious character and the strengths of being a problem-solving genius tackling this problem globally bringing new efficiencies to the labour and education market. Wirk’s mission is that no matter what country you are born in – good or bad, one should be entitled to free education and equal job opportunities.
DR MICHAEL PRAGER
Michael has been treating patients for over 20 years, being the trailblazer of the ‘natural look.’ Even in the early 2000s when ‘plastic fantastic’ was all the rage, Dr Prager specialised in enhancing his clients’ natural features.
His first clinic was founded in 2000 on Wimpole Street, but in 2015 the current clinic at 52 Beauchamp Place underwent a transformation into the state-of-the art practice it is now.
“I found Marylebone quite engineered, lacking the authenticity of Knightsbridge. The people here are real, and I’m ecstatic to be a part of them. I’ll never look back; Knightsbridge is the best place in London.” No matter what you’re after, from improving your skin to a vitamin & mineral infusion boost and more, you’re in amazing hands at the Prager Clinic.
www.drmichaelprager.com
HUMPHREY PATON
I sat down with Humphrey at the Bulgari Hotel, Knightsbridge. Spontaneously, Humphrey tells me of his connection to Knightsbridge. He grew up in Hans Place and attended Hill House Prep School. He remembers with affection the patriotism instilled in him by the school through the late Colonel Townsend’s insistence that the students sing the national anthem and ‘I Vow to Thee My Country’ at every morning assembly. Humphrey says these memories were brought back into focus as he queued for our late HM the Queen’s Lying in State. After Hill House, Humphrey attended Winchester College and the University of Oxford where he studied Chinese – which he now speaks fluently.
After Oxford, Humphrey worked for a social media company in Chelsea led by the glamorous serial entrepreneur Una Liu. In his role he met many interesting Knightsbridge people including, Count Gaddo Cardini, Ciro Orsini, Fadi Saliba, Salt Bae and also covered, the 96 Club and classic car rallies and other events. Una taps into the new TikTok shopping phenomenon by connecting TikTok influencers to international brands. Humphrey has since moved on to pursue further studies.
MEET THE NEIGHBOURS
TREY PRITCHETT-RANDALL
Trey is a serial entrepreneur, intrepid world adventurer and property developer who was taught by her father from a young age the importance of hard work, dedication, and an entrepreneurial spirit.
She lived in Hong Kong and Australia for over a decade. Like her father, Trey believes education is of vital importance, especially for women and girls, and she enjoys sponsoring students in Uganda, India and Bangladesh and also mentoring the younger generation in the UK and around the world.
Since returning to England in the late 1990s, Trey has been a proactive property developer and landlady based in Knightsbridge. What started out as a hobby –acquiring and managing real estate – turned into profitable professional passion, as she built a portfolio of sensational properties in Knightsbridge and across the country. Trey’s area of expertise is identifying high-potential opportunities and developing finance and business strategies for a very UHNW elite clientele.
Please contact Trey for expert Knightsbridge property advice:
trey@knightsbridge-properties.co.uk
MILLIE GRIFFITHS
Millie is a abstract painter working and studying in London. She is in her first year as an Undergraduate at Camberwell College of Arts, UAL and is currently on a journey developing her style. She began a project on the exploration of how to best showcase Surrealist Automatism 5 years ago and hasn’t stopped since. The current themes in her work include: time, memory and psychology and she has been using her Automatic drawing pieces from her sketchbook to inspire her paintings. Griffiths’ practice has developed from her devotion to always painting outside. “I find I can enter a more meditative state once painting outdoors with nature around me.” In the journey of perfecting a balanced and exciting composition, once entered into a subconscious state while painting in abstract, Millie points her attention towards the union of colour, shape and form until she finds a sense of harmony, to then conclude its completion.
NATALIE REBEIZ
Playfully known as ‘The Caviar Queen’, Natalie COO of Caviar House, was born into a family of caviar pioneers which includes her late father Georges Rebeiz, famous for founding the company ‘Caviar House’ in 1950 and brother, Peter Rebeiz, current CEO.
Natalie was exposed to caviar from a very young age and was actively involved in the production from the age of 8. Natalie tells us of her disdain for caviar at this age, “My father always taught us that when we packed caviar, you must always try it beforehand to check the quality, but I hated it, I really hated it!”
Through Natalie’s childhood she would learn everything there was to know about caviar and grew to love the black pearls. She recalled the time she fell in love with caviar, aged 19. “I remember vividly, opening a 1.8 kilo tin of Beluga from Iran, and the smell was euphoric, it hit me, and I was in love.” Her goal would be to move to London and open the first shop in the UK. When Natalie was 20, she did exactly as she had set out to do… the first of many caviar shops were born.
www.caviarhouse-prunier.co.uk
