Talking Point: Sarabande's House of Bandits pop-up at 5 Carlos Place

Lee Alexander McQueen is arguably one of fashion’s most groundbreaking designers. His fashion shows are considered to be some of the most memorable, innovative, thought-provoking, outrageous and beautiful of all time. Whether inspired by the likes of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds or Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, or having robots spray-paint a finale dress live on a runway or putting the model Kate Moss inside a gigantic glass box which would eventually open onto the stage and smash, McQueen’s creativity was pure, untameable. 

The Sarabande Foundation, established by McQueen in 2006, is a hugely significant part of the designer’s legacy. McQueen died in 2010, leaving a large portion of his estate to the foundation, which is run by his first-ever employee, Sarabande’s director Trino Verkade. Inspired by the way in which the London fashion scene operated during his formative years, Sarabande has leaned into McQueen’s own collaborative, multi-disciplinary design approach by bringing young creatives together. Thus far, it has supported more than 250 artists and designers through scholarships, mentoring and heavily subsidised studio spaces across its two London sites, in Haggerston and Tottenham. Alumni include award-winning designers Craig Green and Bianca Saunders, jeweller Castro Smith, fine artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan and sculptor and textile artist Daisy Collingridge. 

In 2020, the foundation launched its gallery and concept store House of Bandits, with a pop-up space in central London selling unique artworks, ceramics, fashion, homeware and jewellery by more than 100 of its own alumni and resident artists. The House of Bandits offering also includes an ever-growing collection of commissioned dining plates – £149 for two – featuring artworks by Sarabande supporters, including Tim Burton, Alexander McQueen, Francesca Amfitheatrof, Ridley Scott, Jake Chapman and Daniel Roseberry of Schiaparelli. 

House of Bandits has since established a permanent home in Sarabande’s Tottenham HQ and will excitedly make its return to Mayfair this October as part of the inaugural Mount Street Neighbourhood Arts Festival, with a takeover of 5 Carlos Place. With lashings of Sarabande-powered infectious energy and a smorgasbord of collectible objects to buy from both the foundation’s current resident artists and its alumni, the pop-up will also act as a spotlight for a roster of striking and diverse artistic talent. 

“Sarabande’s House of Bandits is an energetic, innovative gallery and store where visitors can enjoy and buy unique works of art by the hottest talent,” says Verkade. “The featured artists have had their work featured in national and international galleries, and we are excited to share their brilliance as part of the Mount Street Neighbourhood Arts Festival. House of Bandits presents the work our artists want to show, and they benefit as customers buy directly from them. We can't wait to welcome our UK friends who love art and culture to Mayfair, and those travelling in for Frieze London and PAD who want see a slice of London's best creative minds.” 

The line-up of artists presenting work at 5 Carlos Place will bring together an array of visionary ideas created across myriad mediums. Those featured will include Kasia Wozniak, whose dreamy photographic fashion and portraiture work has appeared on the covers of Dapper Dan, Vogue Greece and 10 magazine. Wozniak’s work explores the authenticity of the photograph whilst predominantly using a wet plate collodion process to do so. 

Almudena Romero whose work has been exhibited at the likes of the Saatchi Gallery in London,  is another artist pushing boundaries in photographic work with her plant-based imagery that sees her experiment with the developing of her photos directly onto plants. As part of her The Pigment Change series, Romero spread watercress seeds on a stretched canvas and let them grow in the dark, before projecting a negative onto the watercress – a radical re-imagining of the darkroom process. 

Former jewellery and fashion designer Jo Grogan, who retrained as a wood carver and sculptor, is also showing as part of the Sarabande cohort. Her large sculpture Best Chair is a brilliant mind-boggling joy, crafted from plaster and covered with a mosaic of replica Delftware ceramics to evoke the ornate form of a 17th-century Dutch tulipiere vase. “Through this piece, I aim to question the place of historical ornament in contemporary society,” she wrote on Instagram. “Best Chair serves as a tongue-in-cheek response to the cultural significance of prized, yet often unused, functional furniture in working-class family homes and the collision of the Aesthetic and the Arts and Crafts movement. It raises questions about the interplay of function versus frivolity and considers the roles of those who create and those who acquire ornamental art.” 

Other highlights will include hand-raised work by silversmith Shinta Nakajima, whose work blends Japanese and British cultural influences, large wall hangings by sculptor Darcey Fleming whose work was a centre piece at last year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Dean Hoy who creates soft sculptures from recycled toys, and painter Stephen Akpo whose abstract oils are an exploration of self-healing, grief and loss which beautifully blur the lines between melancholia, mysteriousness and optimism. 

Sarabande’s House of Bandits Pop-Up is at 5 Carlos Place, it is open 10am-6pm and runs from 7 to 12 October, 2024. 

Main image credit: Darcey Fleming in her Sarabande studio © Sarabande Foundation.