Bi-monthly interviews with influencers and decision makers in the world of property.
KELLY HOPPEN MBE
I am sitting in Kelly’s cosy office in Notting Hill, surrounded by plump cushions, muted colours and piles of press cuttings. Despite nursing a cold and a bunch of damp tissues, she’s on good form and animated about the Rainforest SOS project which she’s working on with Vivienne Westwood. Today, her business is a growing empire, a testament to her drive, ambition, self belief and quite clearly, an insatiable appetite for opportunity. Some might mistake her confidence for arrogance, but you can’t maintain success in the design business by being modest. I find her laid back and approachable.
BGP: You are one of the most sought after names in interior design. How did you start out in the business?
KH: I was just sixteen when I started my own business. My first client was a war veteran and a friend of my father’s, who asked me to do his kitchen. It was a hilarious job because he was constantly pissed, as were all of the builders. At the time, I was lucky enough to have a fantastic apartment that was left to me by my father, and had a friend over who was having an affair with a racing driver. He commissioned me to do his entire house, which lead to work from a host of other racing drivers, including F1 champion Keke Roseberg. Suddenly, I was being offered business from world famous actors and opened my Lots Rd studio at eighteen.
BGP: I understand that you had no formal education or training in design?
KH: I was completely self taught really and started straight out of school. My mother reminds me that as a child, I was always changing my bedroom and moving furniture around the house. I had chocolate brown felt on my bedroom wall, a cream shag pile carpet and even chrome capping similar to that in my home today. My mother had a great eye and I was inspired in many ways by my grandmother’s house in South Africa, which had a real essence of home and a lived in feel. That is really central to my work too. I believe that interior design was in my blood from an early age.
BGP: So how has your career been influenced by your family outside of your passion for design?
KH: Despite having money, both of my parents worked extremely hard. Their drive and tenacity influenced me greatly, so when my father died I was driven by not wanting to rely on anyone. His death was the worst thing that had ever happened to me.
BGP: Today your business has many facets, including the books, retail, design consultancy and the school. What are you focusing on at the moment?
KH: The school is one of the most successful components of the business. Despite the recession, we haven’t been busier and I find it immensely pleasurable. We are going to broaden the current model and provide home study courses amongst other things. A lot of my critics say that I am giving away my secrets, but, I like to share, and I have something to give. I am good at what I do and like to mentor young people.
BGP: You’re famous for your use of muted colours and the colour taupe. What do you want to be known for?
KH: To be known for the colour taupe is slightly underwhelming, although it has made me a lot of money. Ultimately, I want to be known for good design and creating spaces that feel like home.
BGP: What is your ultimate ambition?
KH: It is a true honour to be recognised by your country, so when I received my MBE from the Queen, many of my friends said, ‘wow, you’ve achieved the ultimate’, but, it doesn’t stop you striving for the next goal. I want to be a dame. There is always another target, another challenge to pursue. I am currently involved in a project with Vivienne Westwood to save the rainforest on behalf of The Prince’s Trust.
BGP: Of all your projects, which one have you enjoyed the most?
KH: There have been so many; it’s a difficult choice to make, because you enjoy different projects for different reasons. I enjoy a challenge, so the Beckham’s house was memorable because we had to complete the job in just six weeks. I thought, I’ll never do that again, but I did because they are great friends. The British Airways job was amazing too and we’ve just finished the VIP room at Whiskey Mist, which I am really happy with.
BGP: You are predominantly associated with luxury residential. Are you open to working across other market segments?
KH: My core business is luxury and I have always worked on the premise of establishing myself at the high end; that’s who I became. However, I recently worked with BHS and we are currently on QVC which is working brilliantly, so am happy to look at any project that inspires me. I established myself at the high end, so it is easy for me now to work at any market level.
BGP: How do you do to unwind outside of the work environment?
JH: Sometimes, I just burn out so when I walk out of here I have to turn off completely. I recently went running and hiking in Spain with my personal trainer; my friends thought I was insane, but it was the perfect antidote for me. I like to take small breaks and have a place in the country where I escape the confines of London. Of course, I still like to party.
JOHN HITCHCOX
For theoutstander’s first profile interview, I chat to YOO front man & industry pioneer John Hitchcox, discover how he started, how he plans to counter the economic downturn and discuss the environment, new ventures and sex.
We’re sitting in John’s retro, American diner style kitchen at his house in Notting Hill, a fitting location for someone so delightfully casual and at ease. I’ve met John a couple of times, so I am fairly prepared for a down-to-earth session. He’s a people person, a character trait that has probably supported his success in equal measure to talent and a man probably more content jamming with mates in his basement studio than strutting the boardroom. Renowned for creating exciting living experiences in partnership with Philippe Starck and Jade Jagger, his new venture Green Shoots aims to offer value added design to first time buyers.
BGP: I read that you started in business by renovating a house in Caterham that you bought for £19,000. Is this where you discovered your passion for property?
JH: It all started when I was eighteen. I borrowed some money from my mother, bought a suit from New Man, and together with a friend tried to convince the banks to lend us the capital to purchase and renovate some studios in South West London. By the time we had won the interest of the Allied Arab Bank, the studios had been sold so we were back to square one. However, the seed had been sewn in terms of my interest in property. It was some months later that I found the house in Caterham and had the idea to transform it into two apartments. I persuaded NatWest to lend me £19,000 and did all the work myself; the electrics, bricklaying, carpentry, plumbing. I finished and sold them and went on to do the same with the houses on the other side of the road. It was a real discovery because it was only then that I realised that it was part of my natural DNA. I wasn’t particularly driven at school and had no formal training in any industry, but my father was an architect and my grandfather a developer, so it in many ways property was a natural calling.
BGP: Was your father a big influence on your early career?
JH: He was an extremely talented architect and worked for the civil service designing hospitals and welfare structures all around the world. I don’t often get to talk about my father, but he was a real inspiration. He provided me with a lot of practical support and in many ways it was like having a very good non-exec. On Manhattan Lofts we would go through plans, layouts and designs together and for him I think my endeavours were a welcome distraction from the enormous projects that he was involved with. He was going to leave the civil service and work for me at The Manhattan Loft Corporation, when he discovered he had cancer, so sadly that never happened.
BGP: Manhattan Loft Corporation delivered a different living experience and ideology to London residents. Did it sow the seed for YOO?
JH: One of my career choices was to become an architect; after all, we are a family full of designers. With Manhattan Loft, my background in design helped us to become much more than a cookie cutter developer. Our concept was very much about giving people the opportunity to build their own homes inside our space, but we soon realised that many of our buyers didn’t have the time, the energy or the inclination to do this. The evolutionary step therefore was to partner with design minds that understood ergonomics, the consumer and how we live. YOO has certainly been a complementary step and Manhattan Loft was a strong influence on the model that we have today.
BGP: Is YOO influenced by John Hitchcox’s personality and a desire to be different?
JH: I only ever build what I would like to live in and have always followed a belief that what you don’t know you can’t do. I assume quite arrogantly that if I like it that others will too. At YOO, how we design our projects is influenced largely by our own lifestyles and our understanding of how other people live around the world.
BGP: What are you focusing on at the moment?
JH: Our latest venture is called ‘Green Shoots’, which is really about bringing accessible, value added design to the 25 – 35 year old market. The credit crunch has brought change and somehow it has served to encourage a greater level of social interaction. With Green Shoots, we are engaged in what might be considered ‘youthful experimentation’, in that we have taken a Barratt Homes scheme and applied our design principles together with youthful practicals and amenities that would more commonly be found on our more expensive residential schemes, including rooftop gyms and games rooms. In a market where luxury is performing poorly, people are looking for value for money design. We have a great body of work, both UK and international experience and a strong brand, and see this as an opportunity to use our skill sets to create a new development business that can aid struggling projects or develop new ones.
BGP: How would you like to see YOO develop as a business?
JH: Our strategy was to create a worldwide platform through which we could build relationships with developers to whom we’d offer our design, marketing and co-investment services. Today, we have interests in over 30 countries. We are now pursuing a UK focus albeit whilst maintaining our international business, as developers and indeed banks find themselves in challenging situations. We believe that we can offer them a value added solution. On the design side, we have four designers signed which gives us a broad spread of styles and we might add one or two more, adopting potentially a country orientated or Ralph Lauren style offering. There is an obvious and almost natural compulsion to pursue the architectural route and this is often on my mind and we might look at working on public buildings too. Right now though, the predominant focus is UK.
BGP: How has your business been affected by the economic crisis and are you being forced to evolve as a result of it?
JH: Last year we had fifty seven projects on our books, this year we have twenty two. Real estate is a cyclical business with numerous peeks and troughs, although I think the current economic downturn took us by surprise. I am now on my fourth cycle, each of which can easily be broken down into seven year slots. I started in 1981, selling out in 88 before setting up Manhattan Loft in 91. I pulled out my investment in 99 to start YOO, a percentage of which we sold in 2006 to raise capital. Now we are looking to deploy some of that capital into other investments and into markets that have been less affected by financial pandemic. South America in particular hasn’t suffered badly due to their lack of debt reliance, so we have a new project happening in Brazil. There will be some tough spots though, including Miami, Vegas and Dubai; it will take some time for these markets to recover from the property slump and work themselves out.
BGP: What are your thoughts about the Middle East; it seems to have an enormous opportunity for growth?
JH: Maktoum is the world’s greatest marketeer. What used to be nothing more than a refuelling stop on route to Asia is now a major destination, despite its relative lack of mineral resources. It is an exciting place, where you get to work on new buildings with a level of creative freedom, and our project in Dubai is stunning. Generally, there is more money available, more common space and certainly fewer development constraints than are found in so many other markets; it is good fun. We have eight, six metre unicorns in our common areas. However, there are now many regions in the GCC that have big building projects underway, fuelled by large quantities of money and all striving to become the biggest and the best. The question is though, who is going to live there?
BGP: In addition to design, your business is built around the ability to add value and sales efficiency. Will you be taking a stronger equity position in further projects?
JH: The short answer is yes. YOO Capital and YOO are two separate entities. YOO Capital decides on the merit of the investment and YOO designs it. My business model has always been driven by property investment being at the core, supported by service businesses. The rational is about adding value. The investment business is not glamorous, but it is where we make our money. There is going to be a downturn in the volume of market activity in property due to the lack of available finance and this is unlikely to change until debt becomes more accessible. The YOO business will feel the affect of this. We are currently engaged on more than thirty projects with buildings over thirty storeys under construction and I can’t see that market returning for another ten years. YOO Capital therefore provides an important support structure for YOO.
BGP: What is your position on the environment and social responsibility and does YOO have plans to engage with and support these issues?
JH: We are a regeneration business and much of our work involves revitalising communities. Many of our projects aren’t in the prime locations, they can more often be found in younger, edgier areas, so these community issues sit at the core of what we do. Re green, it is a bit of a minefield. I love green and the ideal of creating power from renewable sources really excites me. The cost implications though are huge and the realistic environmental rewards are often confusing. There is a need for change, but we are still at the early stages of the technological advancement. Green needs to be cheaper for it to gain mass appeal and maybe government needs to play a greater role in incentivising both developers and homeowners.
BGP: What drove you to set up Green Shoots and will you be taking the business into new markets?
JH: I was inspired by a trip to Japan, where developers are engaged in some really interesting home ownership experiments. Creating first time buyer communities hadn’t really been addressed, but it realty appealed to me. Initially it was quite a struggle to get Green Shoots off the ground, both internally and externally, as many felt it was beneath me, which I completely resisted. YOO is not elitist and we are not Candy & Candy. We have always been about creating communities and distributing lifestyle experiences that serve to improve the quality of peoples lives. Green Shoots therefore is quite a natural offering for us. Internationally, we see this as a ‘YOO Light’ project targeting the aspirational youth market and working on social housing projects. In terms of concept, this is probably where we are the most unique.
BGP: I saw you play with your band at ‘Lakestock’ and from what I have read there’s clearly a rock star stirring in John Hitchcox. Does music influence your business?
JH: I wasn’t allowed to listen to anything but BBC Radio 3 until I was 16. I sang in choirs, listened to opera and now through my son have the ability to indulge more modern tastes. I tend to hang out with musicians and I even have a recording studio in the basement of my house. As a consequence, there is a rub off, particularly relative to my appreciation of various genres and the introduction of that into the business.
BGP: Are there any other pursuits that you long to indulge?
JH: Sex. I try to get the subject into every interview but it never gets written up. I recently read in the paper that it is healthy to indulge everyday. Therefore, I am perplexed as to why lust is one of the seven deadly sins.
