London’s Soho has got itself another members club. With a difference. Located on 58 Poland Street, Apartment 58 is a high-tech home away from home concept for creatives, brought to us by the man who established The Notting Hill Arts Club and boutique bar, Cherry Jam, Members can use it as their personal pied-à-terre, let themselves in with their own key, host sample sales or launches in it and even use it as a place to pick up their mail. Founder Alan Grant has ambitious plans for the club's future. Here, we catch up with him to find out more.
What inspired the Apartment 58 concept?
When you start developing a concept you often begin by imaging an environment you'd like to work and play in. For us, that is a space you feel at home in, but is also fun and inspiring.
Why do you think there is a need for a 'creative hub' like this?
For most creatives, work is their life, not something separate. They don't want a stuffy environment to work in and they also like to socialise and bounce ideas off each other after office hours. I think people are able to be more creative and collaborative when they feel comfortable and at ease.
What do you think are the best features of Apartment 58?
The space is open plan but divided into areas. There is a meeting area and dining room with a big boardroom table but I don't see why people couldn't also have productive meetings sitting on a sofa.
How are you planning on acquiring your clientele?
By private invitation only. Friends can invite their friends to join the Apartment network.
Why did you choose Mia Wallenius for the interior design and what brief did you give for the space?
The idea was for it to look personal, like an imaginary character's London Soho apartment. Mia Wallenius was part of the creative team of the temporary Finnish restaurant and design exhibition ‘Hel Yes!’ and we really loved her vision. She doesn't just design a beautiful space, but wants to create an experience. The interior needed to be comfortable and functional but also unique and inspiring. Mia sourced us a selection of vintage furniture, made-to-measure pieces and contemporary furniture as well as lots of great special edition prints by her design brand Klaus Haapaniemi.
Are you planning to extend the concept internationally?
Three Apartments will open in London in 2012, located in the creative hubs of Soho, Notting Hill and Shoreditch. Further Apartments are scheduled to open in Paris, Milan, Berlin, New York and Mumbai by 2015, creating a global network. Mia, our creative director, and will oversee all Apartments.
Designer Mia Wallenius has filled the apartment with vintage furniture and prints from her design brand Klaus Haapaniemi
ADDRESS
58 Poland Street, W1F 7NR
44.20 7734 6611
www.apartment58.com
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors' picks of the weekThe London office of Wallpaper* had a very important visitor this week. Elsewhere, the team traverse a week at Frieze
-
Alexandre de Betak on getting lost to find himself in LondonAs the world-renowned artistic director opens his first personal studio in London during Frieze Week, Alexandre de Betak reflects on leaving the fashion runway behind to explore light, space and creative freedom
-
Step inside Faye Toogood's intimate cabinet of curiosities at PAD LondonFor PAD London 2025, (until 19 October) Faye Toogood presents The Magpie’s Nest with Friedman Benda
-
American vision meets British craft in Billy Cotton’s new collaboration with Soane BritainYes, there’s rattan, but the lauded New York designer also brought in brass, oak and more. ‘There’s a sort of alchemy to these materials,’ he says
-
A new coffee table book proves that one designer’s trash is another’s treasureThe Rizzoli tome, launching today (16 September 2025), delves into the philosophy and process of Retrouvius, a design studio reclaiming salvaged materials in weird and wonderful ways
-
Welcome to Salt, a London hair salon-turned-immersive audio experienceStyling meets sound design at Salt’s second London outpost, a high-concept space by Unknown Works designed to be heard as much as seen
-
How do you modernise a home without making it feel modern? This farmhouse renovation is a stunning case studyA 300-year-old English farmhouse has been given a new lease of life while staying true to the old ways
-
Step inside a neoclassical-inspired apartment in The Whiteley’s clock towerSituated within London’s former Whiteleys department store, this newly unveiled residence combines Italian elegance, courtesy of furnishings by Maxalto, with architectural heritage
-
Jessica Anne Woodley’s ‘joyfully imperfect’ furniture seeks your inner childThe designer is launching GliFfY, a furniture studio offering playful forms that reflect on her personal growth
-
The Stuff That Surrounds, episode two: Inside the home of Vyrao founder Yasmin SewellIn The Stuff That Surrounds, Wallpaper* explores a life through objects. For our second episode, we’re invited into the fragrance founder and CEO’s viridescent London home
-
Haller-lujah! USM is reimagined by Buchanan StudioThe Swiss modular furniture brand has collaborated for the first time with a UK-based design studio, and the tessellating results are spectacular
