Inside our Step Into The Blue art series
With rooftop – and pool – season almost here, what better time to look back on our year-long artist collaboration with Bombay Sapphire
Friday 17 April 2026 By Catherine Jarvie
Art has been an integral part of Soho House since we opened our first club in London’s Greek Street three decades ago. Today, our collection spans more than 11,000 pieces across 50 Houses globally, with each one featuring work by artists that live in or share a deep connection with its location to showcase the unique creative spirit and environment of each place. Alongside these, we continue to look for new ways to expand our offering, and highlight both emerging and established artists through projects that encourage them to dive deeper into their own practice while engaging with the local Soho House community.
One such recent project was Step Into The Blue, our year-long collaboration with Bombay Sapphire that invited artists to use the colour blue as a step-off to creating a bespoke artwork – most of which were on display for one day only – in or around the pools and rooftops of eight of our Houses, from Amsterdam to Mumbai.
Each installation was accompanied by a day of events tailored to their project and practice – including workshops, conversations, bespoke Bombay Sapphire cocktails, and more – to create a deeper understanding of each artist’s work and approach. See some of the highlights below:
One such recent project was Step Into The Blue, our year-long collaboration with Bombay Sapphire that invited artists to use the colour blue as a step-off to creating a bespoke artwork – most of which were on display for one day only – in or around the pools and rooftops of eight of our Houses, from Amsterdam to Mumbai.
Each installation was accompanied by a day of events tailored to their project and practice – including workshops, conversations, bespoke Bombay Sapphire cocktails, and more – to create a deeper understanding of each artist’s work and approach. See some of the highlights below:
Tom Pope: ‘Soho Swimming Club Penney Cup Gala 2025’
180 House
English artist Tom Pope’s work is centred on performance and photography, with a strong sense of play a feature of both. All of this was on display when Pope took over the rooftop pool area at London’s 180 House for the Soho Swimming Club Penney Cup Gala – a twist on the traditional swimming gala.
On the day, Pope erected a photographic installation of printed banners featuring members of the eponymous fictional swimming club around the pool, inviting members to take part in two participatory ‘races’. Rather than battling it out in standard swimming heats, these were designed to amuse those watching as much as those taking part, with a bespoke ceramic medal awarded to every participant and a matching trophy for the winner (all blue, of course).
Sejal Parekh: ‘Soft Infrastructures’
Soho House Mumbai
‘Soft Infrastructures’, by British-Indian multidisciplinary artist Sejal Parekh, took the form of a series of delicate looking but durable woven artworks crafted from wire mesh, silk, and tennis string installed in and around the pool area at Soho House Mumbai. In the hands-on workshop that followed, Parekh talked participants through her technique, encouraging them to reinterpret themes of connection and resilience, as they transformed bespoke printed imagery into a unique, personalised piece to take home with them.
She shared further insights into her process during a Q&A later that day, where she discussed how movement, intuition, and experimentation shape her work. The piece she devised for Step Into The Blue, Parekh explained, is an evolution of her Portals of Return series – which, like ‘Soft Infrastructures’, explores notions of tension and harmony, softness and strength, resilience and weakness through the interplay of her chosen materials.
180 House
English artist Tom Pope’s work is centred on performance and photography, with a strong sense of play a feature of both. All of this was on display when Pope took over the rooftop pool area at London’s 180 House for the Soho Swimming Club Penney Cup Gala – a twist on the traditional swimming gala.
On the day, Pope erected a photographic installation of printed banners featuring members of the eponymous fictional swimming club around the pool, inviting members to take part in two participatory ‘races’. Rather than battling it out in standard swimming heats, these were designed to amuse those watching as much as those taking part, with a bespoke ceramic medal awarded to every participant and a matching trophy for the winner (all blue, of course).
Sejal Parekh: ‘Soft Infrastructures’
Soho House Mumbai
‘Soft Infrastructures’, by British-Indian multidisciplinary artist Sejal Parekh, took the form of a series of delicate looking but durable woven artworks crafted from wire mesh, silk, and tennis string installed in and around the pool area at Soho House Mumbai. In the hands-on workshop that followed, Parekh talked participants through her technique, encouraging them to reinterpret themes of connection and resilience, as they transformed bespoke printed imagery into a unique, personalised piece to take home with them.
She shared further insights into her process during a Q&A later that day, where she discussed how movement, intuition, and experimentation shape her work. The piece she devised for Step Into The Blue, Parekh explained, is an evolution of her Portals of Return series – which, like ‘Soft Infrastructures’, explores notions of tension and harmony, softness and strength, resilience and weakness through the interplay of her chosen materials.
Step Into The Blue x Mireia Ruiz
Barcelona Pool House
Pick an object. That was the invitation Spanish artist Mireia Ruiz extended to guests as they stood before the assemblage of more than 90 small blue sculptural objects – chess pieces, dinosaurs, and other scaled-down animals among them – placed around the pool at Barcelona Pool House last year. Each item was inspired by children’s toys and games, and Ruiz’s workshop was designed to encourage participants to tap into the possibility for growth and transformation such objects can inspire.
After selecting and being photographed with their chosen pieces, Ruiz invited participants to place them wherever they chose along the pool’s edge. This ‘intimate act of selection’ became the shared work; blue was more than a colour, it was transformed into a ‘shared code’, serving as a collective reminder of the ways in which toys and other objects bridge the passage from childhood to adulthood.
Cornelius Tulloch: ‘The Moonlight Grotto’
Soho Beach House, Miami
As part of our celebrations for Miami Art Week last December, Miami-based interdisciplinary artist and architect Cornelius Tulloch transformed a small corner of Soho Beach House into a shadowed, forever moonlit ‘tropical seaside oasis’, complete with glowing palms and foliage. The installation – found in one of the changing rooms by the pool – was designed to offer ‘moments of wonder and reflection’ away from the rush of Art Week.
Much of Tulloch’s work focuses on the ways in which creative mediums can be combined and subverted to tell powerful stories, employing light and colour as characters in his art. On opening night, the piece extended out into the pool itself with a one-off performance and installation of floats in the water, inviting guests into his electric-blue atmosphere.
Barcelona Pool House
Pick an object. That was the invitation Spanish artist Mireia Ruiz extended to guests as they stood before the assemblage of more than 90 small blue sculptural objects – chess pieces, dinosaurs, and other scaled-down animals among them – placed around the pool at Barcelona Pool House last year. Each item was inspired by children’s toys and games, and Ruiz’s workshop was designed to encourage participants to tap into the possibility for growth and transformation such objects can inspire.
After selecting and being photographed with their chosen pieces, Ruiz invited participants to place them wherever they chose along the pool’s edge. This ‘intimate act of selection’ became the shared work; blue was more than a colour, it was transformed into a ‘shared code’, serving as a collective reminder of the ways in which toys and other objects bridge the passage from childhood to adulthood.
Cornelius Tulloch: ‘The Moonlight Grotto’
Soho Beach House, Miami
As part of our celebrations for Miami Art Week last December, Miami-based interdisciplinary artist and architect Cornelius Tulloch transformed a small corner of Soho Beach House into a shadowed, forever moonlit ‘tropical seaside oasis’, complete with glowing palms and foliage. The installation – found in one of the changing rooms by the pool – was designed to offer ‘moments of wonder and reflection’ away from the rush of Art Week.
Much of Tulloch’s work focuses on the ways in which creative mediums can be combined and subverted to tell powerful stories, employing light and colour as characters in his art. On opening night, the piece extended out into the pool itself with a one-off performance and installation of floats in the water, inviting guests into his electric-blue atmosphere.
Jonathan Baldock: ‘We Three Queens’
Soho Farmhouse, Oxfordshire
We stepped away from the pool and into the Nord for multidisciplinary artist Jonathan Baldock’s Yuletide installation ‘We Three Queens’ at Soho Farmhouse, which was on show throughout December. Blending ritual, folklore and queerness with the artist’s signature wit, four tapestry banners hung among his suspended fairy-queen sculptures with the phrase ‘You enrich this world’ – a quote from British writer and LGBTQ+ campaigner Shon Faye – stitched inside.
Soho House Chief Art Director Kate Bryan praised Baldock’s ‘joyful’ work for its ‘conceptual rigor [and] extraordinary attention to craft’, which some lucky members got to experience first-hand at a textiles workshop led by the artist that invited those taking part to create their own festive fabric decorations to take home. Guests also enjoyed an In Conversation with Baldock, where he revealed more about his processes and inspiration with Soho House Art Collection Manager Jack Lazenby.
Soho Farmhouse, Oxfordshire
We stepped away from the pool and into the Nord for multidisciplinary artist Jonathan Baldock’s Yuletide installation ‘We Three Queens’ at Soho Farmhouse, which was on show throughout December. Blending ritual, folklore and queerness with the artist’s signature wit, four tapestry banners hung among his suspended fairy-queen sculptures with the phrase ‘You enrich this world’ – a quote from British writer and LGBTQ+ campaigner Shon Faye – stitched inside.
Soho House Chief Art Director Kate Bryan praised Baldock’s ‘joyful’ work for its ‘conceptual rigor [and] extraordinary attention to craft’, which some lucky members got to experience first-hand at a textiles workshop led by the artist that invited those taking part to create their own festive fabric decorations to take home. Guests also enjoyed an In Conversation with Baldock, where he revealed more about his processes and inspiration with Soho House Art Collection Manager Jack Lazenby.
Step Into The Blue x Grason Ratowsky
Soho Farmhouse Ibiza
For Spanish-based American artist Grason Ratowsky’s Step Into The Blue project, he created ‘a series of interventions’ that set out to explore the relationship between positive and negative space in and around the grounds and pool at Soho Farmhouse Ibiza. These included a series of draped panels at the entrance and an installation along the pathway that led from the House to the pool, as well as a fragmented floating work within the pool itself and a film documenting the painting process.
The shifting conditions of its setting – from the time of day to changes in the weather – were integral to the project, altering perspective and encouraging visitors’ perception to remain open as they explored the work. Events for guests included a linocut workshop led by Ratowsky and an art walk around Soho Farmhouse Ibiza with Soho House Chief Art Director, Kate Bryan.
Soho Farmhouse Ibiza
For Spanish-based American artist Grason Ratowsky’s Step Into The Blue project, he created ‘a series of interventions’ that set out to explore the relationship between positive and negative space in and around the grounds and pool at Soho Farmhouse Ibiza. These included a series of draped panels at the entrance and an installation along the pathway that led from the House to the pool, as well as a fragmented floating work within the pool itself and a film documenting the painting process.
The shifting conditions of its setting – from the time of day to changes in the weather – were integral to the project, altering perspective and encouraging visitors’ perception to remain open as they explored the work. Events for guests included a linocut workshop led by Ratowsky and an art walk around Soho Farmhouse Ibiza with Soho House Chief Art Director, Kate Bryan.
Kevin Osepa: ‘Out of the Blue Comes the Whitest Wash’
Soho House Amsterdam
The final installation in the series took us to Soho House Amsterdam, where Curacao-born, Amsterdam-based photographer and artist Kevin Osepa took the concept of immersion literally, with an underwater photographic installation that lined the length of the pool floor.
The piece was an exploration of the artist’s relationship to ‘blue’ – both materially and emotionally – centred around Reckitt’s Crown Blue, a synthetic, non-bleach laundry product that adds a tiny amount of blue pigment at the end stage of the washing process to ‘whiten’ whites. In Curaçao, where it is known as blous, the substance is also associated with guarding against the evil eye. This dual life was the driver behind the work, revealing how an everyday material can carry layered cultural meanings and transformations.
Visit the events page to see what’s coming up at our Houses around the world
Soho House Amsterdam
The final installation in the series took us to Soho House Amsterdam, where Curacao-born, Amsterdam-based photographer and artist Kevin Osepa took the concept of immersion literally, with an underwater photographic installation that lined the length of the pool floor.
The piece was an exploration of the artist’s relationship to ‘blue’ – both materially and emotionally – centred around Reckitt’s Crown Blue, a synthetic, non-bleach laundry product that adds a tiny amount of blue pigment at the end stage of the washing process to ‘whiten’ whites. In Curaçao, where it is known as blous, the substance is also associated with guarding against the evil eye. This dual life was the driver behind the work, revealing how an everyday material can carry layered cultural meanings and transformations.
Visit the events page to see what’s coming up at our Houses around the world
