- yesterday
Documentary, CH4 - Millionaires' Mansions- Series 2 Aquarium Architecture- favourite 'makers',
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00as the international elite has made London its home the private world of
00:08luxury interiors is booming it is absolutely perfect in every way this is
00:15the first state room of its kind that's been created from scratch since the war
00:21what their exclusive clientele demand is a home that sets them apart from
00:26everyone else the chandelier was around 180 000 pounds but it'll be the only one in the world
00:34in your space this is petrified moss that's been injected with silicon sometimes it produces the
00:41smell of real moss it's not all about showing off but it's nice little added bonus that you can say
00:48i've got something you haven't with the wealthy wanting uniqueness britain's artisans are having
00:55a creative field day it's absolutely divine if you went to a public aquarium they wouldn't have
01:04the budget for this kind of tank to make a bespoke scent costs approximately 25 000 pounds that's the
01:10starting price but as more suppliers muscle in the competition is increasing people are watching what
01:19you produce it's going to be seen and people are going to pass judgment on it i think that if i
01:23were to tell you who my clients are i wouldn't have any clients anymore reputations can now hang on a
01:30single job you absolutely cannot fail it's not even an option that you do whatever it takes to succeed
01:39in the world of luxury interiors few crafts are as competitive as furniture design
01:58in the exclusive area of chelsea new products crowd almost every shop window were you looking for
02:04anything in particular trying to find new supplies finding new interesting pieces fighting for space
02:11is fiona barrett campbell whose designs are inspired by roman history okay so this is the um house dead's
02:19console there's a fort an old roman fort called house dead's and that was where this came from these
02:28huge boulders sort of protruding out of the earth they're all very much statement pieces in their their
02:37own right but they're not they're not over the top i would call them sort of understated statement pieces
02:43to draw in high-end clients fiona's shop is laid out like a luxury apartment this cabinet that starts at
02:5114 000 that's about seven thousand pounds including that we've sold quite a few for chalets yeah yeah
03:00what's the wallpaper oh it's cork to complete the picture even the walls ooze bespoke finishes
03:07so it's specialist plaster and it's a diamond design um it's all done by hand takes about
03:17three or four days to do that aztec someone said aztec yeah gorgeous thank you so much no thank you
03:26the market now is extremely competitive so you have to be constantly trying to develop new finishes to
03:35find new materials to work with different ways to work with them to try and be one step ahead of
03:42your competitors to be offering something different but as more designers arrive in london a shop is no
03:49longer enough for fiona's ambitions
03:55so for the last two years she spent millions renovating a warehouse in victoria
04:00dave where are the decorated i think these are just phantom decorators
04:04i'm slightly worried about these leaning against this this woodwork here because they are her plan
04:11is to create london's first super luxury showroom where top designers can show off their wares alongside
04:18fiona's own exclusive furniture we've got c75 for the tops in there it's the best of everything i'm talking
04:27about the quality of materials quality of workmanship quality of design and finishing
04:36all those elements come together to make something that is really visually stunning you've got to show
04:41people what you can do barrett spelt b-a-double-r-a-double-t fiona's business comprises half a dozen young
04:49designers alison the pa and her husband the former england football captain sol campbell this is a
04:56you know huge project for us massive projects massive you know for me it's all about game changing
05:03really you know trying to bring the sporting element into it you know it's all about putting
05:11your flag in in the grounders and here we are you know we want to uh you know we want a piece of
05:16the pie or slice of the cake fiona has thrown everything at the showroom right down to the silver porcelain
05:25wallpaper it's not paper it's not paper is it's cloth it's cloth this is actually i'm trying to put
05:32a skinned rhino up on the wall how much is this is this worth price price on application
05:40that's that's the thing you need to ask you can't afford it
05:45the craftsmen have been sourced from across the continent we're not plasters we are artists
05:51what we do it's it's very artistic and very very creative alison mandy's left a load of rubbish in
05:59the bin up here it doesn't look good but after two years of work fiona now faces an unusual deadline
06:06the showroom must be completed before her third child is due in only two weeks we're pushing to
06:12get the job done now so we've got lots of people who shouldn't be here who should have finished
06:16and left and it should be a little bit cleaner and this is obviously you know finished bespoke
06:21joinery which shouldn't be in this condition basically i'm sure it's going to send me into
06:28early labor at some point
06:33with the super rich on a spending spree the luxury design world is expanding fast
06:39exclusivity has trickled down to even the most mundane household items
06:43this man is a regular visitor to the savoy hotel his business depends upon it
07:01i'm a man who is simply obsessed with beds
07:05alistair hughes runs savoir beds a business which began by making beds exclusively for the savoy
07:11alistair now exports around the world
07:17when you're dealing with these clients who have so much money who can have every luxury imaginable
07:23sometimes you have to start with things that are much more common and close to them and right under
07:27their nose alistair does a regular service on every mattress in this hotel we can see here we've got a very
07:35small tear hi is there you go i think what we need to do is just swap that mattress over as quickly as
07:42possible so can you see what we can do in terms of getting a replacement in if you're at work at this
07:48end of the market you really have to be a little bit obsessive about quality if we don't do that we'll
07:56we'll always be someone else who does
08:06alistair's beds are made in a london warehouse and can cost up to 60 000 pounds
08:12even his dog has a savoir mattress we've got other beds here waiting to go out to the state
08:18so well up here we've got the yacht beds so all the thin ones up here on yachts we tend to make very narrow mattresses
08:25the forgotten beds are mainly down the other end here the forgotten beds tend to be things where
08:30either a house project has taken massively longer than expected and possibly a divorce has happened
08:35in the middle of course divorce is normally quite good for our industry i hate to say it but when
08:39people separate they usually end up with a new bed um so it can be a good time for us each one of his
08:46beds is uniquely designed for his clients needs people use beds in very different ways headboards with
08:54secret compartments where you can keep a handgun okay not for this country i might add that was a
08:59u.s client who wanted that we've also had secret drawers for things like jewelry and so people like
09:05to sleep close to what's close to them i suppose we actually have had beds bought as gifts for people
09:14who are reaching the end of their life i've never had someone come to me and say it's for me i'm going to
09:19die in it but i've had people come to me and say look this person who's been so special to me i want
09:24them to go out feeling comfortable
09:26hello welcome did you have a nice trip
09:40alistair's newest clients are sasha volkov and pascal ferrero a couple whose love of objects has
09:46created a unique parisian apartment so here is the the living room with the new a few new pieces
09:56pascal is france's most celebrated wig maker sasha a fashion designer who's previously collaborated
10:03with savoir beds if you're a designer like the one i want to be you have to be different i mean you need
10:12to to to bring to the people you're working with something that is unique after months adorning their
10:21flat with body parts and stuffed animals one piece of furniture now seems rather bland the problem is
10:29that we need a new bed we really need it we really need a new bed because the bed is quite minimal like a
10:38student best and we are not students anymore so we decided we had to invest in the bed
10:50as bespoke becomes the watchword in luxury the elite will seemingly stop at nothing to make their homes
10:56so it's unique
11:00in london one man can even make the air that you breathe exclusive to you
11:08and the smell of faeces something utterly fecal disgusting roger dove is one of the country's
11:26leading scent creators oh yeah horrible during patchouli i can smell it outside it smells fantastic
11:34it's lovely delicious i'm a perfumer but it's gorgeous very nice funny
11:42for me the smell of luxury is something which absolutely doesn't try
11:45really luxurious scent should have presence it should be memorable but it shouldn't shout nothing
11:52luxurious your child
11:56in a quiet space in mayfair roger creates bespoke home fragrances
12:03using only the rarest of ingredients
12:07this is called ambergris it comes from the sperm whale the sperm whale forms it in its throat and a
12:13little bit like a cat honking up a fur ball it's going to boom expel it and it will float on the
12:18ocean and when fishermen collect it in their nets they're very very happy because this raw material
12:24when it's finished will cost nearly a hundred thousand pound a kilo or ten times the price of gold
12:31so to make a bespoke scent costs approximately 25 000 pounds that's the starting price
12:36the majority of my clients aren't surprised by the price at all
12:39lots of people when they just hear it if they've never contemplated it before of course it's fortune
12:44i understand that but i think what people need to stop to think about when i make a scent for
12:49somebody i can sell it once roger's minimum order is 500 scented candles so his clients tend to live
12:59in rather large houses hello goretti come on sai come on balloon hold on let me call her and tell her to
13:06take them off the lead goretti do you want to take baloo off the leash please let them run in
13:14ida delal is an iranian businesswoman who has spent eight years restoring forley court
13:21even in its most horrific condition which is what it was when i got here you could still see how it
13:27must have been really beautiful in the past ida now wants a scent to mark the completion of her home's
13:34ground floor i hope that the scent will be as relevant as the my restoration here has been
13:42that it's a it's a modern sense but with some very simple classical notes to it and
13:49i think roger has a hell of a challenge on his hands
13:51for the global elite having a bespoke interior allows certain messages to be conveyed to your
14:05guests why have normal taps when they could be encrusted with your favorite jewels
14:10in south london one company's product is used to make a very different statement
14:21keep going down another six inches keep going keep going and down again perfect you've got it
14:30you can almost stereotype what kind of aquarium they would like depending on their nationality like
14:35the russians they love the big teethy predatory fish and the americans they love the huge systems
14:44of course this tank itself to install would be around probably the hundred thousand pound mark
14:50and that's before you've even added the fish
14:56aquarium architectures tanks transform luxury living rooms
15:01i would say it's it's unique if if you went to a public aquarium or a or a or a zoo
15:10they wouldn't have the budget for this kind of tank
15:15aquariums it seems satisfy a personality trait amongst the very wealthy
15:22the rich and wealthy like being in control of what they have
15:25these clients they're playing god with these fish they can create whatever they like and i think that
15:32just appeals to these kinds of people
15:37this probably weighs about 200 kilos do not drop it
15:44go back go back go back
15:46in north london their latest tank is being installed for a new client you need to come come back come back
15:53come towards oh well done boys oh jesus christ he's requested rather unusual fish
16:02we've got some guidance from the client as to what fish he wants in there and is looking for aggressive
16:09brutish looking fish what what do you think about ewes aggressive but too aggressive too aggressive i think
16:16generally our clients come to us with a very vague idea of what it is that they want
16:22the kind of situation that you want to avoid is where the client is desperate to have piranhas but
16:27also desperate to have guppies in there with them which is not something that you can make work
16:33because fundamentally a piranha is going to eat other fish in fact they'll eat each other
16:37for the high-end client a product's value is best measured by its uniqueness rather than its price
16:50for some spending 30 000 pounds on a bed can make sense if that bed fits only you
16:56what we obviously want to do is fit you with the right bed we hope so yeah we came for that
17:09every customer has to be fitted for their savoir bed because every spring is shaped to the owner's body
17:16so i think what we should do is just try you on a few other beds just tell me how you feel on them
17:21what you think about it this mattress is clearly not the right mattress for you it's actually bending
17:29your spine out of line so how does it feel like i am on the cloud you want to be floating in air
17:37in between floating and have a massage people use beds in very different ways for some people it's a
17:44a place for all night sex for others it's somewhere where we just go for a kip
17:48bed bed for me is really to sleep and to have the better sleep we can have but for him it's just
17:56like an island and it's his island he does everything in bed we never argue but i mean sometimes
18:03he's like now stop it's now we sleep no connecting a little bit more i have this more email to answer
18:12tomorrow it's very nice all those sasha and pascal's bed is so important to them they're designing the
18:23headboard themselves leather the colors are amazing hmm sasha i'm not sure about this for the dead
18:34right now maybe in 10 years we'll get there this one i like so maybe we could go for green because
18:43this is quite nice because this is quite masculine yeah i quite like that one the general idea would be
18:49like this with all those shelves i mean we have like thousands of books so i thought that the headboard
18:57looking like a kind of library shelves makes it alive different is good i mean i think that it would
19:05be very boring to have a world with all people looking alike and thinking the same thing it would
19:10be terrible this is where pascal is sleeping and i'm sleeping here you will look even smaller i will look
19:16even bigger i don't need to be taller than i am so i'm quite good so there's no problem you can laugh
19:23about yeah and i like i like small guys so the reason why i want to i want him to be even smaller
19:37at her country house in northumberland fiona has just one week until her baby is due
19:43dawn are you finished in there
19:46oh right can we just move this so we can film in the bedroom can i just check the bed before we
19:54go in there just check that everything's the only thing i have taken out no no
20:05i'm very particular about the way i put my cushions it's ocd designer paranoia
20:12this is the games room in here he's very photogenic he ages very well annoyingly
20:26so we've got four bedrooms three bathrooms on this floor you can see here's more of the um strips
20:34the sedan yeah fiona's spent several years and millions of pounds renovating this house
20:42but with the business expanding she's decided to sell
20:48we can't justify having such a huge property in the northeast you know if i'm at home with the
20:54children at home with the children but otherwise i want to be in work and i want to be industrious and
20:58i want to be doing stuff and it becomes like a drug it becomes addictive you can't stop i think we're
21:04going to have to get it fixed and take a view on it and just make sure that everyone is prepared that
21:09if it if i'm not happy it doesn't work come back fiona's family background helps explain her work
21:16ethic her grandfather founded barrett homes in the beginning it was very difficult i have the barrett
21:24name which people associated with the lower budget housing but then also i married a footballer
21:31straight to camera this time you know footballer's wife out just doing this as a little sideline that
21:38sold set me up or something you know the little business but it's you know it's it's not that
21:45and when you have people in your family who've been very successful my parents and my grandfather
21:50you do feel like that you need to follow suit there is there is a pressure there
21:55that you can't fail you absolutely cannot fail it's not even an option
22:00that you do whatever it takes to succeed
22:13back in her luxury showroom fiona has brought in a hundred thousand pounds worth of sculpture lighting
22:18and this light here is all hand blown glass you can customize the finishes you can have the rope
22:24in a cream you can have the glass in different color um but sol wanted something different over his
22:29desk oh this is his choice yes it's quite a statement light isn't it it is but he's kind of a statement guy
22:40her plan is for a grand showroom opening in a week's time but only once the baby is born
22:45i'm having a baby tomorrow well it's my due date tomorrow um so that's why we have to be in the
22:52office because it's too stressful to to do to have it have the move after the baby if you're going to
22:59have that one up today are you going to have that up by the end of tomorrow if everything goes okay i will
23:07be back at work next week with the baby in the world of luxury interiors roger dove is pioneering
23:21the bespoke home fragrance and like any high-end artisan to perfect the product he has to know his
23:28client inside out when looking at scent for a home you have to take into account the personality of the
23:36person it isn't me sort of looking at you like some psychic thinking oh blah blah what do i know
23:41i need to discover it so roger is off to profile ida delal's sense of smell we have around 3 000 raw
23:52materials we can draw on i will start to introduce her to different oils i've always said that i don't
23:57listen really very much to what people say i observe how they behave
24:09grass it smells just of wet grass
24:12how are you very very nice to meet you really lovely to see you
24:29roger's analysis begins with a meticulous tour of ida's habitat
24:34when you walk into the room you really smell the wood in this room gorgeous how lovely um i don't
24:42want to walk on the grass if you don't mind i have silk shoes on yeah that's why and ida has very fine
24:47shoes on i love this smell of decay that you always get on the woodland floor and it smells slightly
24:53camphoraceous you lived originally in persia in iran yes were there particular smells that you missed
25:04from home well i think there are definitely cooking smells because persian food is is a great mix of
25:10spices and vegetables and very aromatic and very aromatic people either love it or can't stand it of
25:16course scent for a home is no different than scent for ourselves that you can send messages off with
25:22scents so if you walk into a house and the scent inside it is sort of very fruity and sugary you
25:29might say that it suggests somebody who's fun and playful you could also say that it might suggest
25:34somebody who is very unsophisticated please come and have a seat here that's what i'm going to do
25:43is introduce you to a lot of different odors and you have to do nothing other than smell and tell me
25:48what you think and what that allows me to do is get a picture or an understanding of the sort of
25:53scents that you really really like so there's the first one and let's start so whatever you feel
26:01it reminds me of my childhood it makes you think of your childhood it smells like a vanilla pepper
26:06seriously pungent so what is that one might sound a little bit odd but um the odor exists in feces
26:18so a whisper of it really hidden is very erogenous too much of it is totally offensive they really have
26:25to be handled with care i wish i sense a little bit like a cat burglar it can sort of creep up on you
26:35when you're not expecting it and it breaks into our subconscious and it opens the most wonderful doors
26:42doors of memory my late father's aftershave ida will sniff over 120 odors from geranium to beard of goat
26:53before roger finally reaches a verdict if you want to know a little bit about your style in scent
27:00you seem to like um the feeling of warmth in scent very very mossy feel you really seem not to like
27:09sweetness so it'll be very very interesting to see where i start to create the scent for your home it's
27:16been lovely the scent needs to be a very classical structure i think but it needs to have this
27:30this quirkiness this brightness is unusual twist without being gimmicky because one thing i don't
27:36think she is in any way shape or form is gimmicky and as a perfumer nor am i also pursuing a bespoke
27:49project aquarium architecture are in holland where one warehouse sells everything from seahorses to sharks
27:59definitely a male thing they've got the fast cars they've got the big house
28:02you know they've got their boats or whatever else the next thing is a shark i don't own a shark and
28:09i'm there i'm all man with a budget running into the thousands the team must find exactly the right
28:16size and ugliness of fish one of those moray eels they can like rip a finger off
28:25it's ugly enough to go in the tank but i would be worried that he'd make a light snap of any smaller fish
28:32i'll plug it for him
28:36there's lots of ugly fish here you know things like big eyes but not going to cut it they're not
28:40not scary or uh or ugly enough under the patronage of the wealthy the aquarium industry has boomed
28:49rare fish now sell for eye-watering prices this is the pair of kingi how much is negative i think there
28:57will be around 60 000 to bear i think yeah oh you'd have to be very committed to your fish keeping to
29:03want to buy a pair of those it's just on a whole another scale the amount of money that can be spent
29:09creating your dream marine tank to some people they're just living creatures in the sea but it's
29:15unlimited really like if you have a blank check you could spend it
29:22but despite picking up 5000 pounds worth of coral the team haven't found any fish aggressive or ugly
29:29enough it needs the owner to step in so we've just been told there's a there's a secret room an aladdin's
29:36cave if you will uh of some more rare fish that we're yet to see i've been here previously a few
29:44times and uh i've never known it's existed till now wherever they are hammerhead sharks jesus christ
29:57almighty oh my god it's not every day that you get to uh see behind the scenes at a place like this
30:05that's pretty damn cool but the hammerhead shark is sadly as long as the tank they're trying to fill
30:18people hire us because they know they're getting the best and so we're the same we want to supply
30:24them with you know the best aquariums with the best fish and if that means you know we have to come all
30:29the way to holland and not find quite what you know the client's looking for then so be it
30:35so uh it's back to london for us it's three days after the birth of fiona's child and sticking to
30:49schedule she's back at work that's gonna work the baby if you're gonna sand will you close the door
31:02yeah thanks i'm either sat at home doing nothing because the other two are in nursery
31:07and school so i might as well be at work oh pardon you i don't think we're gonna have enough
31:16nappies for you it's quite funny driving to work just talking to the baby and they're like and this
31:20is rush hour getting the work ethic instilled really young why don't you call her and ask if she could
31:27work late so she could do eight till two at our house maybe nowadays opportunities can be too easy
31:35for the younger generation and i think you know they've still got to realize that you've got to work
31:40hard you know it is tough in business right let's go see how ray's doing
31:48after two and a half years fiona's showroom is finally complete its centerpiece is a 200 000
31:57pound kitchen with white bronze cupboards these were gosh 15 000 for these doors you know but
32:05they are something special everybody that walks into the showroom the first thing they do is touch
32:10these and go wow what is that and that's what you want you want people to engage with the design
32:18but fiona won't relax quite yet in a few days her showroom will have a public opening
32:24attended by most of her competitors you're going to get some people who love it you're going to get
32:30some people who don't love it and everyone is entitled to their opinion for me the worst response
32:36that somebody could give is to to give no response at all because how do you respond to nothing
32:42okay i'll get parallel now actually to have a look at that
32:49across in alistair's factory sasha and pascal's unique bed is nearing completion
32:56essentially what we put together is a mattress here in one piece which each side is different and
33:01designed for one side for pascal the other for sasha so on pascal's side we've got all soft springs
33:07sasha was a little bit more difficult what he needed was something where he could actually sit up in bed
33:12and read but also be comfortable when he's lying down that meant we needed something a little bit
33:16firmer at the top end so it's totally bespoke we'll probably never make another one like this again why
33:21would we it depends on the combination of people
33:23their 30 000 pound bed is hand stitched from start to finish by veteran bed maker tj this is all done
33:33by hand and the way you feel the way i feel i got up in the morning and i feel good about myself
33:40so when i feel good about myself i'll come and put all my energy and all my good will into the
33:46spend and a person who lie in the bed would feel the energy that's it we employ total 90 people 65
33:58of which are craftspeople and if we're going to have a manufacturing base in this country i believe
34:02it's only going to be with the very best quality there's no question that people love to hate and
34:07ridicule the super rich but actually through their spending what they do is they help to fuel
34:13our renaissance they help to keep businesses like us going
34:22i think we have to get rid of all those books maybe preparing the nest
34:30i'm feeling quite nervous because if it doesn't fit it goes back to london
34:36i'm not nervous because he's nervous but i'm waiting to see things
34:44sasha and pascal's bed is the crowning piece in a flat where price will always come second to
34:51originality we have very demanding jobs both of us many times we can spend two or three weeks without
34:58seeing each other oh la la masterpiece i really love to be in a place and i see things that i love and
35:09i think they go well together and it makes me happy you know it's better to wake up in a place like
35:15this than to wake up in a shitty place ready oh oh la la c'est huge oh la la you have to speak in english yes
35:25sorry i'm huge is english it's amazing wow it's a world it's an old world oh my god i must say yeah it's
35:39amazing oh my mia oh la la good night bye bye i can't do this because i'm going to sleep in a minute
35:50the ultimate luxury is to be in love and to be loved in return and that's what we have together
35:57and it's great to have it it's a plus it's a plus exactly it's a but the main important thing is this
36:07the rest is like bullshit
36:26roger dove is back in mayfair preparing for a first attempt on ida delal's home fragrance
36:32i need to make almost a rough sketch of the perfume this is a very particular type of geranium
36:39it's called geranium bourbon that's going to be a little bit of nostalgia for her because it reminded
36:45her immediately of her of her father this is the rose from the south of france i think the last time
36:51i paid about 23 or 24 000 pounds for a kilo but that comes across as very inexpensive compared to the
36:59jasmine i just used it takes around five million flowers picked by hand before the sunlight touches
37:05them to produce one kilo of the oil and that costs 34 000 pound a kilo which is just over i believe
37:13double the price of gold bullion
37:21we're painting pictures but we just don't use paint we're telling stories and poems but we just don't use
37:28words so what i'm doing is allowing these raw materials to express my idea my vision like a poet or a
37:38storyteller but just using the language of smell i like it so i think that i am actually ready to weigh it out
37:51this for me is always one of the most frightening moments because of course every time i put an oil
37:59inside the container i can't remove it so it really is the point of my return
38:09roger's ingredients are so rare that creating 500 candles could take up to two years
38:16but only once ida is happy with the smell what i think i've managed to capture is something which
38:25is rich and opulent but not in the least showy it has the smell of the woods that run down to the river
38:32thames it has all the warmth and the softness that i hoped
38:36well if she doesn't love it i'll have it at home
38:45roger's creation might work as a perfume but the odor will change when it burns
38:51and even then it needs to complement the smell of ida's house
38:55blue bye come on
39:05hello hello ronda how lovely to see you how are you
39:10i'm great how are you thanks for turning the rain off
39:14so how's everything with you so excited about my place was really fascinating to
39:23see your interpretation of it all I think we're gonna go through to the
39:27lovely how exciting is this I love your presentation thank you there are some
39:42very very discreet ultra luxurious materials in the base which maybe I can
39:46say that this is the only candle on earth that has them in it's a pleasure I have
39:54no idea at the moment whether it was smoke whether it will burn evenly whether
39:57the scent will lift yes so now becomes the beginning of of that journey the moment
40:04the truth is right the moment of truth
40:06It's divine.
40:29You like it?
40:30It's beautiful.
40:31You like it?
40:32It's stunning, yeah, I love it.
40:33It's quite a complex smell.
40:35It's not an ordinary candle.
40:37No, I can see that.
40:38That's for sure.
40:39And I don't know if you can catch, there's a little touch of foliage in there.
40:43You can catch that.
40:44Can you catch it?
40:45You can catch that.
40:46How does it make you feel?
40:48I think it's an everlasting scent for folly.
40:51Thank you, Roger.
40:54Tonight, Fiona Barrett-Campbell is opening her showroom.
41:06There's no nerves.
41:09The sales team is on high alert.
41:12We've got everything printed, everything's ready.
41:16We are very organised, that's one thing.
41:18Even though we didn't look at the mover, we are very organised.
41:22When people walk in here tonight, I hope that it's a good reaction.
41:27People are wowed by the space and the product that we've produced.
41:33Yeah, so if somebody wants more information on the kitchens, just take down their information,
41:37write a note onto it, and then you can give that to Georgina.
41:40Put it down here.
41:41Put it down here.
41:42I think, I think, easy tiger.
41:44Excited and nervous.
41:47I think it's all those feelings, really.
41:52Anticipation, you know.
41:54It's an important night for us.
41:56It's a very important night for us.
41:58And if it goes well, what will this kind of success look like?
42:01It's quite a hat trick.
42:07The guest list of investors and Fiona's competitors are seeing the kitchen for the first time.
42:13It's absolutely beautiful.
42:16Again, there's a storage again.
42:19I just really love the fact that it's like a very practical device.
42:23You know, it's a gas hob.
42:24But why shouldn't everyone have a beautiful gas hob?
42:27You know, it's more like a piece of sculpture.
42:30I know, she doesn't even look like she's had a baby.
42:33It's a girl, we have another girl.
42:36I think a lot of people that buy this have chefs, who would know what to do with it anyway.
42:42But this is definitely the top end of the market.
42:45In a nice mansion, which it would have to be, with a kitchen this size, I think it could be quite homely.
42:52But for Fiona, exhaustion is finally catching up.
42:56I feel really tired now.
42:58Yeah.
42:59It's been a long day.
43:00It's been a long year.
43:02I just have time to try and get everyone to go home now.
43:05Check them out.
43:06Yeah, I just have time to stop serving alcohol.
43:09Actually, Alison's the exact one.
43:11I'm all right.
43:14Property is a very male-dominated industry, and you have to be strong.
43:18Yeah.
43:19You have to have conviction in all the decisions that you make, and you do have to stand your ground.
43:26It's hard for the modern-day working mother.
43:31It is.
43:40Six weeks after their unsuccessful trip to Holland, the men of Aquarium Architecture have found the right fish.
43:48We've looked at thousands and thousands of fish, trying to keep the client happy, and actually we've dwindled them thousands down to, you know, half a dozen for now.
44:02Nothing about price here. It's all about getting the very top stuff.
44:09The fish they've sourced are a unique combination of rare, aggressive and profoundly ugly.
44:17Always be careful with pufferfish, because whenever you take them out of the water, whenever you stress them out, they just fire up.
44:25The pufferfish has a beak, and that will just chop your finger off.
44:30And the triggerfish has visible teeth, which could just go straight through your flesh.
44:35It's a tassel firefish, another fish that isn't too common.
44:41The long-awaited lionfish, they are venomous and they will make you very sick.
44:46An adult one could kill you.
44:49This tank will cost thousands to maintain each year, as it's such a rare mix of species.
44:55Do you want to bat the lionfish away, Sam?
44:57For the client, that perhaps is the point of it all.
45:00Not everyone has a great big fish tank full of predatory, dangerous fish in their homes.
45:06And so when the client has his friends round, he can, you know, show off and say,
45:11this fish will, you know, bite your finger off, or this fish could give you a pretty fatal sting.
45:15It's not all about showing off, but it's definitely something that, you know, it's a nice little added bonus that you can say, I've got something you haven't.
45:25This will be all gold as well. And then the little, this little bit at the bottom, the base here, in chocolate wood.
45:35For all craftsmen in the luxury sector, whether it's fish, fragrance or furniture, success often depends simply on creating their clients' unique fantasies.
45:48Right, so next project, we have a Hindu philanthropist who wants an aquarium.
45:53Now, he has stated a preference for having vegetarian fish in order to suit his vegetarian lifestyle.
46:02There's a lot of good looking vegetarian fish.
46:04More often than not for the super rich, the only limit is their own imagination.
46:09Oh, look at that.
46:11I think as long as people want to be seen to be superior or to have something which no one else has, because that's what's important, is to be different,
46:18then I think we'll always have a market for what we sell.
46:30Next time, it's the battle for Chelsea, as the developers move in.
46:35We're going for it a bit with this room, because it feels like we kind of owe it to the building.
46:41It's very, very expensive, but one has to ask, is it actually good taste?
46:45London's wealthiest district is getting new residents with their own unique style.
46:51This is petrified moss that's been injected with silicon.
46:56Sometimes it produces the smell of real moss.
46:59More mansions next Thursday at 8.
47:00Tomorrow night, 8.30.
47:01Funny boy, funny girl.
47:02Richard Ayoade, Roisin Conanty, 48 priceless hours in Berlin.
47:07Now, next night, episode one's gentle induction is done.
47:10Episode two's something a touch more brutal to follow.
47:14British army girls.
47:15Episode two's something a touch more brutal to follow.
47:18British army girls.
Recommended
47:27
|
Up next
47:09
46:39
58:55
58:53
58:59
59:00
59:13
59:07
47:38
46:59
46:45
45:29
47:00
50:03
49:18