Something & Son is the creative force behind FARM:shop, a three-storey city farm that produces everything it sells on-site, from fresh tilapia – courtesy of a mini aquaponic fish farm – to a vast selection of plants grown in hi tech indoor allotments that are more like laboratories.
Its innovative design led to Something & Son being approached to come up with an art and design installation in Barking, east London, in the run up to the 2012 Olympic Games. The concept they put forward was the Barking Bathhouse – a ‘social and affordable’ pop-up spa inspired by an original 1890s bathhouse in the area.
Situated in a car park, Barking Bathhouse resembled a giant beach hut from the outside. Inside it had a café/bar serving organic cocktails under a growing canopy of cucumbers, an outdoor/indoor relaxation garden and a shingle beach for sunbathing. The spa also had a wood-fired sauna, an ice room, and three therapy rooms with time slots staring at £10 (US$16, €12) for 15 minutes and going up to £35 (US$56, €42) for an hour. It became so popular that it stayed open for 11 weeks (three week longer than planned). Co-founder, Paul Smyth, says the concept is now going to be used to create a permanent facility and that this in turn is likely to be duplicated in two other cities. We talk to him about how it all came about.
How would you describe the design? Eco-industrial chic. We were inspired by Barking’s industrial past and with the idea of converting an old warehouse into a spa with trees growing through the building and furniture crafted from reclaimed materials.
It cost around £230,000 (US$369,000, €273,900) to set up – we were really cautious about investing too much because we knew it wouldn’t be there for long. But the simple aesthetic was actually very popular.
What worked well? The Barking Bathhouse was a very sociable spa space where people could really relax. We had a lot of regular customers who praised the simplicity of what we were doing and also really liked the competitive pricing.
Being a pop-up gave us more freedom to experiment with the design, the fit-out and the operation, but it also presented some unusual challenges because of the temporaray nature of the operation.
What obstacles did you face? Although we got a three-week extension, we weren’t as busy during that period because we didn’t market it as well and lots of people though we’d closed by that stage.
Also the bar slightly underperformed. It was quite busy, but we would’ve liked to have sold more food and drink, and for it to have been more lively in the evenings. And, at times, the outside spa facilities were cold.
These are all things we’ll address in the permanent Barking Bathhouse which is due to open on a new site in Barking in May 2014.
In the meantime, we’ve recreated three of the treatment rooms at the back of the Barking Learning Centre, as we wanted to keep the concept going and keep the team together. We’ve used the time to connect with people in the local area, which we didn’t have the time to do with the pop-up, and bookings have really increased recently.
What will the permanent Barking Bathhouse be like? We’re still finalising plans, but it will feature three and a half treatment rooms – the spaces will be flexible, with partitions that allow us to transform them into larger spaces for classes and events. It will have a bar and café, but we’ll expand on the food offering.
The design will be timber again and industrial, but slightly more finished than the pop-up. The spa will have a big chimney, centred around a wood-burning furnace providing heating for the building.
We’ll have a wood-fired sauna and we’re looking at bringing in some clever, low-energy, low carbon systems to run hot tubs. We also hope to have standalone greenhouse/solarium. The design will retain the indoor/outdoor experience, with a walled garden, but it will be designed for year round use.
What opportunities do you see? We’re talking to organisations in Bristol and Brighton (in the UK) about creating more bathhouses. Our key criteria is to partner with organisations which share our vision and love the concept. We’d be really open to working with an established spa operator or someone who wanted to invest.
We genuinely want to change spa culture, make spas more affordable, and to get people to use them more regularly.
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
Interview: Helene Goetzelmann
L'Occitane's international spa director tells Rhianon Howells how the consumer retail company has become a spa operator with 60 facilities
Ask an expert: Profit & Loss
Hotel spas need to fight capital expenditure allocation said an investor panel at this year's Global Spa & Wellness Summit
Research: All rise
There's been an increase in the five top key performance indicators in the US spa industry shows the 2013 ISPA study
Company Profile Promotion: ESPA promotion
As ESPA's 20th
anniversary year draws
to a close, founder and
CEO Sue Harmsworth
explains how and why the
company is still evolving
Safari Spa: Animal instinct
Safari spas are the staple for Amani, one of South Africa's largest spa chains. Lisa Starr talks to MD Ronleigh Gordon
Trends: Brief encounters
We take a look at some of the most innovative spa pop-ups, a growing trend across the leisure sector
Interview: Paul Smyth
Something & Son designer shares his insights on creating pop-up spa facilities. Magali Robathan reports
Summit review: Upping the ante
Katie Barnes reveals the takeaway messages from the 2013 Global Spa & Wellness Summit in New Delhi, India, attended by 375 industry leaders
Research: Local news
Domestic travellers dominate the global wellness tourism market which has an economic impact of US$1.3 trillion. SRI's Ophelia Yeung reports
Research: Thai up
Prantik Bordoloi analyses a 2013 Thai spa industry study based on both spa consumer and spa operator opinions
Software news: Tech talk
The latest developments and news from spa software suppliers from around the world
Rachelle Moulai, the spa manager at Barking Bathhouse has a background in running five-star spas and headed up So Spa at London Sofitel St James before being approached by Something & Son to help with its pop-up. “They asked me to choose between fun and security and I chose fun,” says Moulai who quickly hired five therapists on a self-employed basis who paid the pop-up a 25 per cent commission on their takings.
When the permanent facility opens, she says therapists will be paid a salary and the spa will cover all operating expenses unlike at the learning centre which lets the space for free and covers the bills.
“It was scary coming to this project but it’s turned out to be the job of my life,” says Moulai. “I don’t have that corporate pressure here and everyone is happy: we are doing a good thing for the community, and we still have those very high standards I had at my previous jobs.”
Magali Robathan is the managing editor of Leisure Management, a sister publication to Spa Business Email: [email protected] Phone: +44 117 9723101
Barking Bathhouse opened in the run up to the 2012 London Olympic Games
The ‘eco-industrial chic’ design was inspired by an original 1890s bathhouse in the area
The ‘eco-industrial chic’ design was inspired by an original 1890s bathhouse in the area
The ‘eco-industrial chic’ design was inspired by an original 1890s bathhouse in the area
The ‘eco-industrial chic’ design was inspired by an original 1890s bathhouse in the area
Contrast therapy, based on the alternation of hot and cold rituals, has become one of the
most valued practices in the fields of wellness and recovery. [more...]
Something & Son is the creative force behind FARM:shop, a three-storey city farm that produces everything it sells on-site, from fresh tilapia – courtesy of a mini aquaponic fish farm – to a vast selection of plants grown in hi tech indoor allotments that are more like laboratories.
Its innovative design led to Something & Son being approached to come up with an art and design installation in Barking, east London, in the run up to the 2012 Olympic Games. The concept they put forward was the Barking Bathhouse – a ‘social and affordable’ pop-up spa inspired by an original 1890s bathhouse in the area.
Situated in a car park, Barking Bathhouse resembled a giant beach hut from the outside. Inside it had a café/bar serving organic cocktails under a growing canopy of cucumbers, an outdoor/indoor relaxation garden and a shingle beach for sunbathing. The spa also had a wood-fired sauna, an ice room, and three therapy rooms with time slots staring at £10 (US$16, €12) for 15 minutes and going up to £35 (US$56, €42) for an hour. It became so popular that it stayed open for 11 weeks (three week longer than planned). Co-founder, Paul Smyth, says the concept is now going to be used to create a permanent facility and that this in turn is likely to be duplicated in two other cities. We talk to him about how it all came about.
How would you describe the design? Eco-industrial chic. We were inspired by Barking’s industrial past and with the idea of converting an old warehouse into a spa with trees growing through the building and furniture crafted from reclaimed materials.
It cost around £230,000 (US$369,000, €273,900) to set up – we were really cautious about investing too much because we knew it wouldn’t be there for long. But the simple aesthetic was actually very popular.
What worked well? The Barking Bathhouse was a very sociable spa space where people could really relax. We had a lot of regular customers who praised the simplicity of what we were doing and also really liked the competitive pricing.
Being a pop-up gave us more freedom to experiment with the design, the fit-out and the operation, but it also presented some unusual challenges because of the temporaray nature of the operation.
What obstacles did you face? Although we got a three-week extension, we weren’t as busy during that period because we didn’t market it as well and lots of people though we’d closed by that stage.
Also the bar slightly underperformed. It was quite busy, but we would’ve liked to have sold more food and drink, and for it to have been more lively in the evenings. And, at times, the outside spa facilities were cold.
These are all things we’ll address in the permanent Barking Bathhouse which is due to open on a new site in Barking in May 2014.
In the meantime, we’ve recreated three of the treatment rooms at the back of the Barking Learning Centre, as we wanted to keep the concept going and keep the team together. We’ve used the time to connect with people in the local area, which we didn’t have the time to do with the pop-up, and bookings have really increased recently.
What will the permanent Barking Bathhouse be like? We’re still finalising plans, but it will feature three and a half treatment rooms – the spaces will be flexible, with partitions that allow us to transform them into larger spaces for classes and events. It will have a bar and café, but we’ll expand on the food offering.
The design will be timber again and industrial, but slightly more finished than the pop-up. The spa will have a big chimney, centred around a wood-burning furnace providing heating for the building.
We’ll have a wood-fired sauna and we’re looking at bringing in some clever, low-energy, low carbon systems to run hot tubs. We also hope to have standalone greenhouse/solarium. The design will retain the indoor/outdoor experience, with a walled garden, but it will be designed for year round use.
What opportunities do you see? We’re talking to organisations in Bristol and Brighton (in the UK) about creating more bathhouses. Our key criteria is to partner with organisations which share our vision and love the concept. We’d be really open to working with an established spa operator or someone who wanted to invest.
We genuinely want to change spa culture, make spas more affordable, and to get people to use them more regularly.
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
Interview: Helene Goetzelmann
L'Occitane's international spa director tells Rhianon Howells how the consumer retail company has become a spa operator with 60 facilities
Ask an expert: Profit & Loss
Hotel spas need to fight capital expenditure allocation said an investor panel at this year's Global Spa & Wellness Summit
Research: All rise
There's been an increase in the five top key performance indicators in the US spa industry shows the 2013 ISPA study
Company Profile Promotion: ESPA promotion
As ESPA's 20th
anniversary year draws
to a close, founder and
CEO Sue Harmsworth
explains how and why the
company is still evolving
Safari Spa: Animal instinct
Safari spas are the staple for Amani, one of South Africa's largest spa chains. Lisa Starr talks to MD Ronleigh Gordon
Trends: Brief encounters
We take a look at some of the most innovative spa pop-ups, a growing trend across the leisure sector
Interview: Paul Smyth
Something & Son designer shares his insights on creating pop-up spa facilities. Magali Robathan reports
Summit review: Upping the ante
Katie Barnes reveals the takeaway messages from the 2013 Global Spa & Wellness Summit in New Delhi, India, attended by 375 industry leaders
Research: Local news
Domestic travellers dominate the global wellness tourism market which has an economic impact of US$1.3 trillion. SRI's Ophelia Yeung reports
Research: Thai up
Prantik Bordoloi analyses a 2013 Thai spa industry study based on both spa consumer and spa operator opinions
Software news: Tech talk
The latest developments and news from spa software suppliers from around the world
Rachelle Moulai, the spa manager at Barking Bathhouse has a background in running five-star spas and headed up So Spa at London Sofitel St James before being approached by Something & Son to help with its pop-up. “They asked me to choose between fun and security and I chose fun,” says Moulai who quickly hired five therapists on a self-employed basis who paid the pop-up a 25 per cent commission on their takings.
When the permanent facility opens, she says therapists will be paid a salary and the spa will cover all operating expenses unlike at the learning centre which lets the space for free and covers the bills.
“It was scary coming to this project but it’s turned out to be the job of my life,” says Moulai. “I don’t have that corporate pressure here and everyone is happy: we are doing a good thing for the community, and we still have those very high standards I had at my previous jobs.”
Magali Robathan is the managing editor of Leisure Management, a sister publication to Spa Business Email: [email protected] Phone: +44 117 9723101
Barking Bathhouse opened in the run up to the 2012 London Olympic Games
The ‘eco-industrial chic’ design was inspired by an original 1890s bathhouse in the area
The ‘eco-industrial chic’ design was inspired by an original 1890s bathhouse in the area
The ‘eco-industrial chic’ design was inspired by an original 1890s bathhouse in the area
The ‘eco-industrial chic’ design was inspired by an original 1890s bathhouse in the area
Private hotel owner and developer HVL Hotels will open a new luxury resort and tourism
destination called Laval Hunter Valley in the second half of 2027 in Pokolbin, Australia.
The annual wellness festival dedicated to wellbeing, culture, longevity and human connection,
called Alma, will be hosted by Rocco Forte hotel, Verdura Resort in Sicily, Italy.
Capella Hotel Group has appointed Feisal Jaffer as chief development officer as the company
ramps up its global expansion of both its Capella and Patina brands.
People taking GLP-1 weight loss medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound
may be losing weight, but they’re also becoming less physically active, according to new
research presented at the ENDO 2026 annual meeting of the Endocrine Society
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Mubadala Capital has made a binding, fully financed
€1 billion
offer to acquire Pierre and Vacances SA, the European holiday resort operator behind the
continental European Center Parcs business.
Global retreat trade show, Synergy The Retreat Show, has launched a resource called The
Source, which hosts an open-access online Transformation Series programme.
The Standards Authority for Touch in Cancer Care (SATCC) charity has announced its first five-
day Living with Cancer and Beyond retreat, which will be held at Carden Park Hotel and Spa in
Cheshire, UK, between 1 and 5 September.
Patmos Aktis, a Luxury Collection Resort and Spa, has opened in Greece, with a renovated and
rebranded wellness offering called Ansana Wellness and Spa.
The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, an Autograph Collection property in Hawaii, US, has opened its
22,000 sq ft indoor-outdoor Spa at Mauna Kea as the final step in the property’s overall
renovation, which has cost more than US$180 million (€166 million, £140 mill
Contrast therapy, based on the alternation of hot and cold rituals, has become one of the
most valued practices in the fields of wellness and recovery. [more...]
