Heartfelt art
Daphne’s starry clientele pulls out the paints for Great Ormond Street
An Escoffier recipe this is not, but a remarkable one nonetheless. Take one iconic restaurant, 13 well-known customers, Great Ormond Street Hospital and the result is art with heart – quite literally.
It’s not news that the London children’s hospital needs funds. But GOSH is currently raising money to build a four-bed bay on the new cardiac ward so family and loved ones can stay, as comfortably as possible, by children’s bedsides.
So when Daphne’s restaurant in Chelsea heard about this project, it cooked up a plan. With a celebrity pedigree spanning almost 50 years (it was opened in 1964 by theatrical agent Daphne Rye, the woman who discovered Richard Burton), the restaurant chose to go to its tables and ask its customers – including actors Helena Bonham Carter, Bill Nighy, architect Zaha Hadid and rock star/artist Ronnie Wood – to help. They were all asked to pull out their art boxes, given the same sketch of hearts by East London illustrator Emiloumakes (Emily Smith) and told to get painting. The resulting 13 sketches will be exhibited at Daphne’s until Tuesday October 1, each available to buy for £1,000.
Sometimes the celebrity-does-art genre can be disappointing. But in this case they have all put as much energy into their pictures as Daphne’s does into its cuisine. Zaha Hadid has created a sensational metallic sculpture and Helena Bonham Carter a heartfelt painting with messages written by her children about what they love. I love reading, hot dogs, skipping, stickers and making noise, they chirp. Bonham Carter herself uses cut-out newspaper lettering to say: “Everyone should carefully observe which way the heart draws him and then choose that way with all his strength.”
Ronnie Wood has transformed his sketch (first picture) into a riot of brighter-than-bright colours. Alan Rickman’s hearts (second picture) have become textured red flowers in a vase, while jeweller Theo Fennell has created hopeful, soaring balloons – an apt choice for the spirit and imagination lifting this very fine cause sky high.
