What’s New

Gifts Galore

Hemels, a bespoke and luxury gift store situated at 71 Parsons Green Lane, opened it’s doors last month. Owned by long time Parsons Green resident Vladi Ondruskova. Hemels was created after she struggled to find gifting locally and had a desire to make luxury items available to customers in a Fulham location. Vladi told Urban Village LDN “I felt we needed more retail shops within Parsons Green as there are few and even less gift shops at that. Last summer, I went for a short break to Italy where I saw beautiful boutiques and had the idea to start a business showcasing products from small businesses across Europe and beyond by bringing them to our area”.

Despite current challenges Hemels have sourced products from across the globe from popular European stationery brands like Faber-Castell, Clairefontaine and Caran D' Ache, to deluxe Japanese colouring pencils from Tombow, fine glassware from Czech brands like Bohemia and Diamente and candles made in Spain from Ladenac. They are also supporting UK brands including Ettinger and those even closer to home like Ardere candles created by Fuham resident Nicole Windas. The store will also provide monogramming and engraving services across their products and continue to add to their range in 2021 with the addition of leather bags from Florence and more. “The beauty of an independent store is that we can cater to the needs of everyone and are always open to suggestions!”.

Hemels are also passionate about environmentally sustainable brands. Currently they stock Bristol based brand “Vent for Change” who make all their notebooks and stationery from recycled materials such as paper, plastics and leather, a range of beautifully designed wrapping paper created from leftover cotton made in India and candles across all their brands “are made with either soy or vegetable wax for biodegradability and to limit carcinogens - they have a longer burn time so last much longer!”.

Vladi continues “The idea was to travel to make contact with potential suppliers but unfortunately that’s not possible at the moment but it is all planned once we can travel again. Thank you to our customers who came to our shop when we opened and gave us positive feedback.”. We can’t wait for restrictuions in Tier 4 or whatever Tier we’re in next to end so we can see what else is in store when Hemels doors re-open. Until then you can click and collect via the link below or follow them on Instagram @hemels.uk

Artisan Cafe

Naive is the latest addition to Fulham’s amazingly diverse selection of coffee shops. The team behind this independent local artisan café opened their first branch on Parsons Green Lane mid December; additional branches opening soon in Hammersmith and Chelsea. Naive stores provide organic and responsibly sourced coffee, tea and food. Their high quality coffee blends are made from small batches of beans bought at a fair trade price from all over the world through a microlot farming system. For those who don’t know, we didn’t, Microlots are special lots of coffee, selected for their high quality and unique flavour profiles, grown on farms/estates in limited quantities and picked and processed separately. All Naive food is 100% organic and supplied by local farms which grow and offer seasonal fruit, vegetables and more. Their daily fresh menu has gluten free, vegetarian and vegan options, adapts to the time of day and includes “gourmet filled” foccacia breads, pastries and cakes. The Naive “crodough”, a doughnut made from croissant pastry, has proved popular with flavours including Nutella, Salted Caramel and Raspberry. If you’re not a coffee lover we’re told their signature hot chocolate has been going down a storm.

The Naive team told Urban Village LDN “the name Naive was an obvious pick. Like many good things in life, coffee is a rather simple and naive joy; it is a bean, fermented and roasted, ground and filtered, and poured into a cup. Naive is proud of getting coffee right with its high-quality coffee blends. The full potential of coffee, its diverse aromas, its silky smooth texture, and its creamy appearance, is unleashed in London, where the beans are roasted to perfection. Coming in to see us you will be welcomed by the experienced and passionate baristas of the Naive family who are more than happy to tease your taste buds and to go the extra mile with their latte art”.

We love their tag line “work with nature, not against it” and are looking forward post pandemic to savouring a coffee or two in store. In the meantime their doors are open for take away and you can find out more about them by following on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thenaivecompany/ or head to their web site; click the link below.

Need a lift?

LIFT Studios is a new, exclusive, one to one, health fitness and wellness concept with a dedicated team of three trainers and a dietitian, providing Lifestyle, Fitness and Therapy (LI.F.T) services in the heart of SW6. Based at the Matrix Recording Studios on Peterborough Road, a few minutes walk from Parsons Green, the LIFT team told Urban Village LDN that their studio environment will give you “a sense of escapism to focus on training, health and fitness” and that their aim is “to take the guesswork out of finding a well qualified, trustworthy expert in their field”.

“There's a definite local feel within the team and appreciation for the Fulham community”. Luke grew up just over the river in Putney, Alejandra has lived in Putney for almost a decade, Mark is a huge Fulham fan and his Grandad was born and raised on Stevenage Road and Ana has made SW6 her home since moving from Croatia more than 3 years ago. Mark and Ale have known each other for eight years, working together as PT and Dietitian for one of London's top health and wellness companies, and long talked about opening a fully personal and holistic service. “We are excited to have opened our own venture. As a group we have followed each other's journeys for a few years and admired the approaches to training and the standards we all set ourselves. When we sat down to talk about the concept it was easy to see we all had the enthusiasm and ideas to push in the same direction together”.

As a team they have 5 health and exercise research degrees between them and a wealth of experience to help clients change habits and reach their goals; whatever they are. Alejandra is a registered dietitian and lifestyle coach who can help deal with health issues such as IBS and allergies. Ana is an ante and post natal specialist who’s helped over 200 women in London and around the world maintain and regain their fitness and bodies. Mark and Luke are both sports massage therapists as well as highly experienced coaches/personal trainers. As a team they are experienced in helping clients and international athletes with complex health cases, rehabilitation and body transformations.

Take a look at their January challenge which starts on 3 January and includes weekly check-ins, three weekly home workouts, diet and life style tasks with the aim of developing healthy long term habits. For signups and to check out their online platforms hit the link below or find out more by following them on Instagram @lift_fulham https://www.instagram.com/lift_fulham/ or their Facebook Page Lift Studios Ltd https://www.facebook.com/LiftStudiosLtd

Go with the Flow

Last year so many people had to work from home having rarely done so before. At times this was easier said than done especially if you were living in shared accommodation with everyone needing internet access, had connectivity issues prior to the March lockdown, if you were parents trying to juggle remote working whilst looking after children let alone if you were also having to home school; we salute you if you managed to do both. FlowSpace got in touch with Urban Village LDN as they have built a platform that features local, flexible, on demand workspaces near where people live and recently listed locations in the Hammersmith & Fulham borough with more to come.

We spoke to Ieva Dvilinskiene, Co-Founder & CGO, who told us “FlowSpace unlocks a world of inspiring workspaces that ties into the vision for the 15 minute city where residents can truly live locally, with everything they need just a short walk or bike ride away. Fulham with its wonderful local businesses and a lovely community is one of the two neighbourhoods we are focusing on. 2020 has been a year of turmoil but it reminded all of us what the most important things in our lives are. To most of us the year showed how much we all appreciate more flexible working hours, being more in control of our schedule, saving time on less commute, work-life flexibility which means we get more time with our loved ones. However, at the moment there is a lack of local flexible workspaces close to where people actually live and that's where FlowSpace comes in. We'd love to get known by the local community in Fulham and provide locals with the opportunity to change their surroundings when they need it”.

We love the flexibility that FlowSpace offers with short two or four hour bookings, space to get things done, hold meetings or as a regular work refuge. When you sign up there is no further commitment and you can use a different space each time. LoweWorks is their first Fulham space in Peterborourgh Road which can be booked for £10 for four hours or £20 for a whole day. Huddle Hammersmith is located at 3 Shortlands, W6 8DA and costs £8 for two hours or £30 for a whole day. Find out more by heading to their website on the link below or follow them on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/flowspaceuk/

READER OFFER: Use code “double flow” for 50% off