Swiss chocolatier Lindt knows what visitors to its newly refurbished UK HQ want to see – the famous gold bunny, larger than life, on proud display.
Morgan Lovell has designed the revamped offices in Feltham, Middlesex, and cannily completed the work just in time for Easter. And the fit-out specialist says it is “guaranteed to excite the senses of every chocolate lover”.
The décor includes chocolate coloured walls and mouth-watering images of Lindt products, but the highlight has to be the confectioner’s iconic (and ever-so-slightly sinister) rabbit mascot.
According to Morgan Lovell, the HQ is a “chocolate paradise that would make even Willy Wonka envious”.
Presumably not including the kind of child death-traps Wonka featured in his factory.
Constellation consternation
As any amateur star-gazer on their first day at the telescope will tell you, identifying which constellation is which can be hard work. The same is true of carpets – even for experts, it seems. Regular readers may recall the excitement with which Diary brought news last week of Heckmondwike FB’s much in-demand Constellation range. However, word reached us just too late that the photo accompanying the press release was not in fact of the highly versatile “plank” style floor-covering, but a different product. Well, we’re not going to sweep this error under the rug – we promised you a carpet with endless possibilities, and now we’re going to deliver. Well, not literally – for actual delivery and installation, please contact Heckmondwike directly. Best to ask for a sample tile first, though, just to be sure.
Prepare to be floored
At the risk of carpet bombing you (sorry) – and in the interests of being fair to all – it seems as though office flooring is now a white-hot market. In this case it wasn’t the photo that caught Diary’s attention, but the poetic way that Germany’s Carpet Concept sells its wares. “The gist of the matter: Plush is a thing of the past,” the bold press release begins. “A revolutionary mix of minimal and sumptuous, a touch of Chanel and a pinch of popcorn – Eco Iqu S is an example of how carpets can be conceived in new ways.” A two-year development period apparently resulted in “a minimal flat-woven fabric, from which the loops literally grow”. Sounds exciting, though perhaps high maintenance. The blurb continues: “Whether a drifting school of fish in the ocean or exquisite bouclé couture – there are no limits to association.” Blimey. Now it’s impossible to decide which carpet is right for the new EG. Probably best to stick with what we’ve got for a few more years.
Wheelie cool
One of the attractions of a co-working space is the diversity of companies and people they attract. And it’s a pretty safe bet that if you are in the vicinity of King’s Cross, which harbours the cool cats of Google among others, then trendy techpreneur types won’t be hard to find. Diary wasn’t surprised then, while having a little traipse through The Office Group’s Stanley Building in King’s Cross, to find three twentysomethings clad in denim and baseball caps having a powwow at a communal meeting table, with a skateboard resting alongside them. We felt cool just being there. And it prompted one PR to recall that time she was telling a client at another TOG building about the creative types the space attracts and “just like that, this woman, perfectly put together, just whizzed past us in her rollerskates – it was as if I set the whole thing up”.
Delight at the double for Erwin
David Erwin, Dunluce Property managing partner and chairman of Property Race Day, romped home to a double success last Saturday – Grand National day. Chesterfield, a horse owned by Erwin’s syndicate, won the Pinsent Masons Handicap Hurdle late on the card at Aintree. But that success was eclipsed by a promising new arrival. Erwin owns Glencoy, the sister of this year’s National winner, One for Arthur. Her new foal was born with impeccable timing last Saturday morning, just hours before the family victory in the big race. Erwin quipped: “Maybe we should call her One for Martha!”
