Mühle Rasurkultur

In Great Britain's capital London Craft Week is just around the corner: for the 10th time in mid-May, craftsmen and designers, brands, and galleries will offer insights behind their scenes. For the first time, the MÜHLE Store in Carnaby is joining in. We spoke with Marketing Director UK Veronica Chessell about the event, the program at MÜHLE, and what else is worth seeing.

“We want to see the processes behind the beautiful things we love”

Veronica, please introduce us shortly into the concept of the London Craft Week – what makes it unique or special?

When you look at the description of the event, it says they want to ‘shine a light on the creative talent behind some of the world’s most beautiful objects’. I think that’s very well said: We all love beautiful things, but of course it is very interesting to see the processes behind those things as well. How they are conceptualized and made, the workmanship that goes into it. That resonates a lot with MÜHLE, a company that has had traditional craftsmanship passed down from generation to generation and combines that with progressive, modern technology. So there will be ceramics, jewellery, textiles and much more all featured throughout the programme of the Craft Week. And we are proud to be representing with our Store and programme the ‘Men’s Grooming’ discipline – the single event in this category. 

Please meet the London MÜHLE team: Store manager Nick, ex-MÜHLE-barber Connor, Veronica & Charlotte

Who is most likely visiting this event?

Craft Week has been around for ten years now, so there are people from all over the world that come to this event, design lovers and collectors looking for very unique pieces. With London College of the Arts and Central Saint Martins which are very much based on product design, creativity and making things, you’ve got this student cohort that is really interested in it as well. And as London is generally all about culture, art, museums – the V&A for instance is hosting a few things as well –  this all comes together on a product, brand and educational level. 

London Craft Week has been going on since 2015 – this is the first time MÜHLE is part of it. Why is this year the right time to start?

Having launched MÜHLE Store London 6 years ago, Craft Week has been on our radar for a while. In 2024 for Craft Week’s 10th anniversary we thought it was time to give this event a try.  Although we’ve been in the same spot since our opening six years ago, we haven’t been standing still – launching the barbershop after we had opened the store, producing digital content for customers and participating in events like Soho Music Month and London Fashion Week as well as hosting our own events for Plastic Free July, Father’s Day, launch events and shaving and grooming demonstrations. We simply love to do events, it is a wonderful way to communicate with our customers, it opens up the opportunity to create a community and true relationships in a time where of course most people order online. So this year we thought it was time to give this event a try. Since its inception in 2015 the festival has grown significantly in scale and prominence with nearly a quarter of a million visitors in 2023 enjoying the work of more than 700 makers at events put on by partners from 40 countries. It has become a stand-out global event for the celebration of craftsmanship. And this is of course very close to MÜHLE’s heart. 

How brushes are made – Managing Director Christian Müller will be in the store explaining the bundling process
Every hair counts: when brushes are made, they just need the right composition of different fibres

What activities or attractions can visitors expect at the MÜHLE store during Craft Week?

Our exhibition ‘Rasurkultur: Tools & Rituals’ goes through the making of a shaving brush from design and concept to the meticulous and painstaking bundling of Silvertip Fibre and then of course the selection of handle materials, their refinement, assembly and the final presentation to the customer. The exhibition will continue in the barbershop where we will be showcasing vintage MÜHLE items and the Edition pieces – which are for me the crowning glory of the MÜHLE programme. 

The exhibition will be complimented by live demos. On Thursday evening, May 16th, MÜHLE Managing Director Christian Müller will be in the London Store showing visitors the bundling process with Silvertip Fibre and our head barber Oran will be doing a live shave with a brush and safety razor focusing on best practices. The whole event seeks to show the careful consideration and craftwork that goes into the making of these beautiful tools.

During the program, there will be a live shave focusing on the best practices
Veronica Chessel at another event in the store

And do you have any advice on what not to miss next to your program?

The Mills Fabrica in King’s Cross are hosting an exhibition titled ‘Planet-Saving Innovations’ bringing together sustainable innovations, exploring how they are tackling our planet’s great ecological priorities. There will be bespoke installations featuring garments dyed with bacteria and accessories and footwear crafted from plants – so it sounds very interesting. 

Also Jaeger-LeCoultre will be hosting a series of demonstrations of watchmaking expertise focusing on the case of their Reverso watch – an Art Deco icon created in 1931. This sounds very cool, it’s at their boutique in Old Bond Street on May 15th. 

Text Franziska Klün