Dominique Bellas On Soho House's Impactful Events

In this exclusive interview, we delve into the concept of ‘Cities Without Houses’ membership with Dominique Bellas, Global Membership Director, Soho House & Co. With over eight years of experience in curating memberships and a profound understanding of the creative industry's dynamics, Bellas sheds light on how this membership model benefits creatives in Indian cities. From the factors influencing Soho House's expansion to the challenges and opportunities in launching simultaneously in six Indian cities, Bellas provides invaluable insights into Soho House's distinctive approach to fostering a global community of creatives while staying true to its signature brand identity.

Additionally, she discusses the role of technology in enhancing the Soho House experience for members and how the club adapts its offerings to cater to the diverse cultural landscape of India.

Excerpts:

Can you elaborate on the concept of 'Cities Without Houses' membership and how it will benefit creatives in Indian cities?

We started this membership about eight years ago, we've been doing memberships for 30 years, since the '90s. We realised that there were a lot of creatives in cities where we don't have a physical house, because they travel a lot. When they travel, they want somewhere to work from, somewhere to have fun and they want to meet people.

Everything we do at the Soho House is very simple, there is beauty in the simplicity. It makes it easy to understand. People in music, fashion, art, film, design, tech and people with a creative soul in a creative industry are going to get the most benefit of the membership if they travel.

We have 1,80,000 members globally across 42 houses. We've got members in LA, London, Paris, Mexico City and more. So, you're also tapping into a global network of creatives. We also have an app where you can connect with some of those creatives. If you're a fashion designer in Delhi and you want to launch your brand in New York, then we can provide you with a platform to connect with the right people in New York to grow your career and flourish as a brand.

We also do events in about 80 cities. We're looking to hire someone based in Delhi and we will be doing events, these could be everything from dinners to parties to talks or workshops. We also do weekenders where we take people away for the weekend retreat.

We can offer the members a global community that they can be part of if they travel a lot. Additionally, we will do events in Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa and Kolkata.

What factors influenced the decision to expand to Delhi?

We've been in Mumbai for over five years and seen real success. The members have taken to it well. It's a melting pot of different industries. Mumbai is one of those cities where lots of people from different parts of India, migrate to. So, we've got to know some of these cities quite well. We've discovered an interesting scene here in Delhi and Jaipur for instance. We've done an event with the Lit Fest in Jaipur.

India is an exciting continent. All these cities have very distinct personalities, there's a vibrant and creative community.  

Not everybody knows Soho House, but the idea of creativity and community, it doesn't matter what country you're in, that translates everywhere. The expansion has come from our members who have been telling us things and our experience in some of these markets.

It cements Soho House's commitment to India, in terms of opening houses and our footprint. While we have most of our houses in the UK, North America and Europe, we're expanding into other regions now, in APAC, we've got Hong Kong, Bangkok and Mumbai. We're going to be opening in Sydney too. India's going to get two more houses. We've just opened a house in Mexico City and we've got Sao Paulo coming as well. So, Latin America is another region that we're growing in.

What unique opportunities and challenges do you foresee in launching Soho House in six Indian cities simultaneously?

When we're going into cities and we don't have the physical thing there, the challenge is trying to make you feel what it’s like to be part of a community, to be part of a membership. It's focused on the people and that's the beautiful part of it. But it's also a challenge because sometimes people are not as familiar with the concept.

I still think in many regions, Soho House is not well known. There are lots of membership clubs, particularly here in Delhi and other places around India. People are familiar with the concept of a membership club, but the awareness of what it means is still not there.

The opportunity that poses is, that we are creating a community tailored to creatives. There are a lot of membership clubs in India, but maybe the criteria are either based on your status or your family or the amount of wealth you have while our focus is on creativity.

Would you like to elaborate on some of the factors that you guys think put Soho House in a different position than some of the other membership clubs around the country?

Our criterion for membership is that you've got to have a creative soul. We are looking for people who are working in fashion, art, film, music and more. We've got amazing programming and the benefit of our clubs is that because we have a global network, there are 1,80,000 members globally, in a Soho House in Mumbai or Delhi, you're not just going to meet people from India.

I think that international pull is a big thing. It's good to walk into a room and not be familiar with everything, to have a different audience around you and to meet different people.

How does Soho House adapt its offerings to cater to the diverse cultural landscape of India while maintaining its signature brand identity?

When we open houses in different markets around the world, there's a language of consistency in terms of certain elements that you can find in any Soho House that makes you feel like you are in a Soho House. If you're staying in a bedroom, we always have a little silver jar that says ‘treats’, that has cookies in it. In every room you have a cowshed, toiletries and a full suite of all the amenities, those are little things that feel very familiar. Picante De La Casa is one of our most famous cocktails, it's a spicy margarita and members, when they travel, always being able to get the cocktail all around the world is key.

There are certain elements that we would do design-wise, but then everything is very localised as well. We're sensitive to working with the local community and the local members, to understand how they live and adapt to that.

Another thing that we would do around the globe is always make sure that the art on the wall represents the artists within that. Globally, we've got the biggest privately owned art collection at Soho House. In each of the houses that we open, we are representing local artists.

What role does technology play in enhancing the Soho House experience for members?

I think we're in a position now where technology supports the back-end part of the business, all the support functions that we need to make the business run super smooth. On the member side, we now have a member app which has content. You can find other members globally, you can book your events through there, you can book your bedroom, book a table and more. We also have a function called ‘House Pay’, where you arrive at a Soho House, tap your membership card and you can pay on the House Pay app.

Technology is an interesting one because we're always going to be a face-to-face business. A Zoom call can't replace the beauty of meeting one in person, but I think these tools have helped the business and we must move and evolve with what's happening creatively.