HOW TO BRING SOHO HOUSE INTO YOUR HOME

by Gianluca Longo

tapisserie (which I o en thought would look good in my flat). And when Li le House Mayfair opened, I was enthralled by the rough wood panelling on the walls, the dark red sofas and the (then) newly introduced glassware (the perfect accessory to impress a date).

Now, Soho House has become a “style”. How many times you have heard someone say that a hotel or a home has a “Soho House feel”? You’ll recognise that style in the lights, which are o en slightly old-school in shape; in the big, comfortable sofas and art deco-style armchairs. e same is true of the beds, occasional tables and stylish, so rugs. ese days, inspiration can come from anywhere, with images of beautiful houses served up by social media. People are more confident in designing their houses with these references close to hand. But if you’re not wanting to go it alone, Soho Home’s design service is a great place to start.

sohohome.com/soho-home-design

Gianluca Longo is the style director of e World of Interiors and a member of Shoreditch House

I call myself a social engineer: someone who brings people together to create positive outcomes and common objectives. It’s something I’ve done my whole life, combining passion with purpose.

I spent 10 years at Adidas as director of community, mindset and culture – a title I created a er becoming disenchanted with fashion advertising and craving a deeper sense of purpose. At the time, the word “community” wasn’t built into our vocabulary the way it is today. It’s crucial to the way we function and can be built through various mediums – running clubs being one.

Running has always been special to me for the powerful ways in which it promotes collectivity. I’m a child of immigrants from Haiti and was raised in Princeton, New Jersey. As a diaspora, the idea of community has been a consistent factor in my life. I moved to New York in 1994, which has the second largest population of Haitians outside of Haiti. New York has so much energy; there’s fashion, music, art, film – all of these creative things that are rooted in a blended immigrant culture.

I wanted to combine this lens and my background in sociology (I graduated with a PhD from e New School) with my knowledge of consumer insights (from years of working in advertising and marketing at global companies) to make space for something that centered on community. at led to the birth of the community strategy at Adidas North America and then the Adidas Runners: a global running community in multiple cities, including New York and London.

The running landscape is full, that’s no secret. ere are hundreds of running groups in New York alone, so it was about finding a point of di erentiation. For me, that meant creating a community that was diverse by design. A club led by women and championed by people of colour. When you think of the face of running clubs, it’s someone slim, white and maybe with ta oos. But runners come in all shapes and sizes – Run Dem Crew is a great example, founded by Charlie Dark in London. He changed people’s lives through sport and that’s what Adidas Runners was about too.

To build a community, you start by identifying shared values. For a running club, it’s living a healthy lifestyle and realising you don’t have to be an Olympian to change your life through sport. For a concept like Soho House, which has created a global community, that shared value is rooted in creativity.

I joined DUMBO House when it was launching – it reminded me of a club my friends and I started in high school called the Youth Cafe, for kids to meet others with similar creative interests, learn to

New York, USA