Our Salons
Salon London: Bringing ideas to life.
2nd Feb 2012
An amazing night: thanks to our excellent speakers and to everyone for coming.
1st Mar 2012
For our March 1st Salon, we were in situ at the panelled library at the ultra glam University Women’s Club in Mayfair. So, befitting such surroundings Salon presented – Short Cuts. People came as receptive buds, and left with the blossoming wisdom of ancients, the mind of a genius, and the creative skills of an art movement.
4th Apr 2012
While no-one could ordinarily accuse Salon of winging it, for Salon’s April outing we 100% winged it, and did so happily. Described (by ourselves) as London’s outstanding cultural monthly, Salon created another stellar line-up designed to unveil the mysterious, and reveal those pearls of wisdom that you just need to know.
12th Apr 2012
Ever found yourself staring up at the clear Yorkshire sky at night wondering just which is the North star, or where exactly is Orion’s Belt? Then you are already showing signs of being a stargazer in training. Luckily, Dr Emily Winterburn, writer of ‘The Stargazer’s Guide’ and former curator of Astronomy at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich is coming to Salon to take us on an armchair star safari. She will show us how to read the stars in the spring Yorkshire heavens, to find and identify key constellations, and explain how they got their names. You will never look upwards in confusion ever again.
3rd May 2012
Oscar Wilde quipped that the most frightening words in the English language are 'I had a very interesting dream last night'. This Salon, we shrug off such pithy observations as we embark on our most ambitious event yet: raising our hypothetical trowel and aiming it deep at our audience's collective unconscious . . .
25th May 2012
Debbie did Dallas, and Salon did Digital. Margaret Heffernan opened our small but perfectly formed Salon does Digital. Taking us through the social media sites of old, (GeoCities anyone?) she tracked the evolution of our digital selves from protective introverts to exhibitionist broadcasters, and the internets’ delight in defining us by what we consume. However, she explained, this reductive approach confined by the ‘masculine’ internet which is much more concerned with sucking out data and selling it on, than giving us the tools to display our individual identities, and this she concluded is directly proportional to our need for authentic experiences. Hence the growth in galleries admissions, cultural events and anything in which we engage as real people with real people. Step up to the plate, Salon – London.
7th Jun 2012
So we had the uber glam, ex-war correspondent, and New York Times writer Elaine Sciolino to introduce us to the world of seduction, French style. Every single transaction in Paris, Elaine explained, is seduction, even the woman who refuses to sell you something in her shop because it won’t fit you, ‘OUI’, she says, they are all prolonging the moment, leaving the opportunity open in anticipation of a love affair, because 'on ne sait jamais'. You might pop out for Percy Pigs and find yourself hours later making mad passionate love with a Frenchie, driving to Deauville and eating shrimps till four in the morning, and she’s absolutely right, one never knows.
14th Jun 2012
Salon North was bigger and better than ever at the St George Hotel in beautiful Harrogate.
4th Jul 2012
Lucy's emailed us her playlist and, as promised, we're posting it up for you to enjoy. It's available here as a Spotify playlist (minus the Chromatics which is available here).
3rd Aug 2012
This year your hosts very much wanted to take Salon to a summer festival, you know, one with camping and halloumi burgers. We had our tick list: we wanted a clever one run by doers, one not afraid of dressing up of a Saturday night and one that knew how to shake its tail-feather, baby.
16th Aug 2012
Now social media makes it impossible to forget, your data shadow sticks to you like a mouse to a glue trap, and your washing machine is bitching about you to its manufacturer, sometimes it feels like there isn’t anything you can to stem this march of progress. But before you search out your loom basher, why not sit back and listen to the consoling tones of Ben Hammersley, inventor of the podcast, government advisor on technology and Editor at Large for Wired Magazine, Ben is on hand to explain exactly what’s happening in the digital world, and to tell you everything you need to know now to prepare for then.
17th Aug 2012
So, let’s just say we do end up in a dystopian landscape in which we are forced to forage wild land for bits of food, will we have to eat less pesto, the answer fortunately is no. Experienced food forage experts Leo Critchley and Rob Cowen have spent two years spent in the wild finding out exactly how you can supplement our diet in a positive, intelligent way without going beyond our city boundaries.
30th Aug 2012
Curious about Curious Incident? As part of the Inside Out festival, Salon London and the National Theatre have teamed up to present a chance to dig deeper into Marianne Elliot’s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, based on the novel by Mark Haddon and adapted by Simon Stephens. Salons always include three of the country’s most passionate speakers from across the arts, science and psychology and offer a sneak peak in to their worlds.
3rd Oct 2012
On the 3rd October it is Salon XXX. Yes of course we thought about celebrating with Japanese bondage, but we can do that in our own time.
8th Dec 2012
To close 2012, you are all invited to our sparkling little Christmas party. Get this right, on the afternoon of Saturday 8th December, we are running a vocal session one of the UK’s best vocal coaches, Salon’s own Juliet Russell. No stranger to fame and success, singer/performer Juliet has performed and collaborated with Damon Albarn, Paloma Faith, Imogen Heap, Brian Eno (the list goes on) and is currently a vocal coach on The Voice UK. She has been persuaded to help us get our voices in to shape for Chrimbo. Running 3pm – 5pm at the lovely venue in Marylebone, we offer you the perfect respite from shopping/exuding distain for capitalism, and will run our Salon party a bit like this: quick drink, warm up, vocal jam, form a temporary Salon choir to sing a former Christmas No 1 that is in a league of its own, and relax with a drink or a bun.