Concrete,bronze mirror,warm water
A single unit in a converted ironworks off the Hackney Road. We never divided it into rooms. The appointment moves through the space instead.
One roomfour states of attention
LUMORA occupies a single 140-square-metre unit in a converted ironworks. We deliberately did not divide it into rooms. Instead the space moves through four states — the chairs, the mirrors, the wash, the finish — and an appointment moves through them in order.
The building is loud at the front and silent at the back. That was an accident of the architecture that turned out to be exactly right: the consultation happens where there is energy, and the wash happens where there is none.
- Chairs
- 06
- Artists
- 05
- Opened
- 2019
- Sq. metres
- 140
Move throughthe room
Four zones, in the order an appointment meets them. Select one to see where you will actually be standing, sitting and leaning back.
The Chairs
Six chairs on a poured concrete floor, spaced at 2.4 metres so no two appointments overhear each other. There is no waiting bench because there is no waiting — if you are booked at 14:00, the chair is empty at 13:58.
- 1964 Belmont bases, reupholstered in undyed canvas
- Individually dimmable overhead light per station
- Tool trolleys sanitised between every client, in view
- No television. No mirror advertising. No upsell script.
04 zones / one continuous floor
Ironworks,concrete,and a door
The building made iron gates until 1981 and the floor still carries the evidence — poured concrete, patched twice, sealed and otherwise left exactly as found. We resisted every suggestion to cover it. A room that admits what it used to be is a better room to be honest in.
The front is loud. Roller shutters, the market two streets over, a bus route that has never once run to timetable. Walk twenty metres to the back and the noise simply stops — thick brick, no windows, and the basins. That accident of architecture decided the layout: the talking happens where there is energy, and the washing happens where there is none.
Bethnal Green, E2
Nearest door is a green one with no sign on it. That is deliberate, and it is also the single most common reason people are two minutes late. Look for the number, not the name.
Come andstand in it
The room reads differently in person. Book a chair, or come by on a Sunday when the walk-in window is open and nobody is in a hurry.