Cabot Square Archives

January 10, 2024January 10, 2024

Canary Wharf: How Creative Virtual is taming large language model AI

Cabot Square-based global leader talks about conversational chatbot technology and ChatGPT

Chris Ezekiel of Canary Wharf-based Creative Virtual – image by Matt Grayson

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“Wharf Life newspaper was founded by Archant, a publishing company, to serve the area around Canary Wharf,” states ChatGPT 3.5, confidently, when asked who created this paper.

It sounds plausible, going on to say: “Archant is a well-established media company with a history of creating local newspapers and publications”.

This demonstrates one of the issues inherent with AI large language models. They are prone to making things up.

Wharf Life was founded by Massey Maddison Ltd in 2019 and has no connection to Archant – a business that used to run the East London And Docklands Advertiser before it collapsed into administration and was subsequently taken over by US-owned media firm Newsquest.

Imagine, for a minute, that my question had been about something much more important than the vanity of asking about this newspaper – that the answer given might have serious consequences for me or the organisation I’m contacting through a chatbot.

With AI finding its way into all sorts of areas of life – including Newsquest’s reporting, incidentally – trust becomes an issue that should be uppermost in the minds of those interacting with it, either as readers or customers.

It’s a topic that’s been on the mind of Chris Ezekiel and his team at Creative Virtual for some time.

He founded the conversational artificial intelligence company on the Isle Of Dogs 20 years ago, investing its profits to grow it into a global business that won the Queen’s Award For Enterprise in 2017.

Now based in Canary Wharf, the firm is considered a leader in its field, competing with the likes of Microsoft, IBM and Google in a sector that until 12 months ago was largely below the public radar.

That all changed in 2022 with the public release of ChatGPT – an event that sent the world giddy with the prospect of what large language models might be capable of.

“It’s been a seismic shift for our sector,” said Chris, who is based at 25 Cabot Square.

“We’d been looking at these models for about three years but everybody was surprised by the impact that this launch by OpenAI had.

“What’s been amazing has been the proliferation of other big companies coming out with their own competitive versions.

“One of the things about running an independent company in the way we do is that you have to keep making profit to invest.

“This makes the choices you make as founder and CEO more critical.

Chris’ business is always looking to the future of organisations’ interactions with customers and employees

“There are always ups and downs when running a company – my role is to make sure there are more highs than lows.

“However, our setup also means that we can take a longer term view when it comes to developing products, alongside the way we work with our customers and the commercial models we adopt.

“One of the things that’s been a massive success for us this year, strategically, is that we immediately offered all our customers completely free proof of concepts related to using this technology to serve their customers and employees – running large language models alongside our chatbot technology.

“It was about asking how they could be used and what the concerns might be.

“At launch, they were much more susceptible to getting stuff wrong and making things up with no way of telling where those errors came from.

“So it was about working with our clients to establish what the challenges were.

“Many had seen the models and thought they could save a fortune – writing stuff for them and answering their customers’ and employees’ questions.

“The business teams were focused on that but then they realised the risks associated with this technology and realised it would need to involve the legal and compliance teams.

“We literally saw companies developing solutions they wanted to deploy for real, while in parallel setting up ethical AI teams, who we were working with to address their concerns.”

Essentially, developing those proofs of concept meant Creative Virtual – which works with the likes of HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group – learnt a great deal about what it would take to make use of the things ChatGPT and other similar models were offering in large organisations.

“Three themes came out of this work – one is trust in the models and the content they create,” said Chris.

“The second is control – to use this technology, organisations need the ability to make sure they can override the models in certain cases.

“For example, if a customer wanted to replace a lost credit card, you need a very structured process that is compliant, trustworthy, accurate, reproducible and consistent – all of the things we’ve always provided as a company.

“There are ways to do this by training AI on the documents, policies, procedures and product information from a particular organisation.

“On top of that you can also create rules to override the model in certain circumstances.

“The Gluon release of our V-Person technology offers a blended approach – AI created content from large language models and human-curated content, which is perfect for organisations which are trying to create accurate, trustworthy interactions.

“The third theme that came up was experience. As a 20-year-old company, we know what it takes to act as AI consultants.

“We’ve had to change our company to be aware of all the different models that are out there.

“Some of these large language models are good at some things, but not so good at others so it’s our experience that allows us to help these large organisations, who want to understand how they can be used and the benefits.

“We’re focused on delivering the control and trust they need through our products and the expertise of our people, to take full advantage of this technology.”

The emergence of large language models has also broadened Creative Virtual’s approach as it explores different sectors and applications for its products.

“It’s changed the company a lot,” said Chris.

“We worked with an accounting company in Australia – MYOB – to use generative AI to create content with a human in control to sign it off.

“They’ve just won a major customer experience award having followed through on a proof of concept with us to create a project.

“That’s the joy we get from this kind of innovation – working very closely with customers who realise the benefits of what this tech can offer.

“This type of AI can provide lots of solutions for sectors such as healthcare and government too – any organisation that has lots of documents.

“Historically we’ve mostly been focused on customer services and resources for employees but we’re now starting to deploy solutions in sales.

“A classic case is what we’re doing on the travel side.

“Currently, if you walk into a travel agent, the person there helping to advise on a trip might sometimes refer to their own or a colleague’s experience.

“There’s no reason a chatbot couldn’t be used to do something similar – using content to show what other customers’ experiences of a destination have been like – an advocate that’s scaleable.”

Chris says companies are developing architecture to make interacting with multiple devices and services through AI possible – image by Matt Grayson

As for the future, Chris is excited by the prospect of further leaps forward too.

“I think the physical form of AI is going to be an interesting one, like having your own robot butler which interacts with the devices in your home, such as your fridge, to keep an eye on supplies, or your smart watch to monitor vitamin intake,” said Chris.

“I think that the future is joining up the AI to connected devices.

“People use the term hyper-personalisation, where organisations know lots of things about you.

“Even with issues of privacy, people often don’t mind revealing personal details if it improves their experience.

“In the future, you won’t even have to think about how you interact with the AI.

“People are already using their voices more to control devices.

“Organisations will know the context of the conversation you’re having and will switch to different channels, so you can start off on the phone, then move to the web, with everything seamlessly connected together.

“We’re starting to develop architecture that will make this really easy to do.

“The big companies we work with talk about the composable enterprise, where we can slot all these different systems together.

“Organisations then don’t have to worry what’s coming from this company or that firm – they can select the technology that’s best of breed, and platforms which create an overall digital customer experience.”

Find out more about Creative Virtual and its products and services here

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

December 8, 2022December 8, 2022

Canary Wharf: How Clays is set to blast into Canary Wharf with its target shooting game

Virtual clay pigeon shooting venue is preparing to open its doors at Credit Suisse’s One Cabot Square

An artist’s impression of how Clays Canary Wharf will look

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“We know the game is the thing that captures you and why you want to come, but once you’re there we want people to feel that they don’t want to leave,” said Jon Calabrese, operations director at Clays.

The virtual shooting venue is set to open its second branch in Canary Wharf in December, following the success of its debut in Moorgate.

The new bar will be located overlooking West India North Dock on the ground of One Cabot Square – a building it shares with Credit Suisse – and is set for an official launch in January.

It will offer 90-minute digital clay target shooting for groups of up to 22 people in semi-private or completely private pegs.

With five games to choose from, it’s the latest in a succession of hospitality businesses in Canary Wharf to put competitive socialising at the heart of their operation.

First Electric Shuffle opened with a 21st century take on shuffleboard and then the vast Fairgame joined it this year, with its nine funfair-themed games.

It’s a trend that’s here to stay as people look for venues that offer other attractions besides food and drink.

“The foundation of what we’re doing is the target shooting game and the quality of that experience is really important to us,” said Jon.

“We wanted to make it as authentic as possible and it’s incredible.

“Clay target shooting is great and I would encourage anyone to go and try it.

“What we wanted to do was to create something immersive in the heart of London that would reflect that experience.

“Players use real guns that have been decommissioned with all of our technology that tracks them and delivers accuracy to within less than a millimetre.

“The clays within the game are subject to wind, aerodynamics and gravity and players stand in front of a three by four-metre screen.

“It’s honestly as though you’re standing in the English countryside and we control the sound and images so we can adapt to the weather outside.

“In autumn, for example, you’ll see leaves falling. We’ll keep working on the experience to make it even better.”

Clays, which was founded by CEO Tom Snellock in 2019, is expanding its operation following the warm reception customers have given its Moorgate branch.

Jon said coming to Canary Wharf was an obvious decision for the business.

“I grew up in north-east London and I’ve been coming to the estate for about 20 years,” he said.

“Even then on a sunny day it was absolutely alive.

“I think there’s this perception with Canary Wharf that’s it’s very much a business district, and at the weekend it’s dead, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“There are incredible residential hubs locally, shopping areas, amazing hospitality operators here and the Elizabeth Line has just come in.

“I think it’s one of the fastest moving parts of London and with the density of people here it’s a no-brainer. It’s almost better to ask: ‘Why wouldn’t you want to be here?’.”

While the game is central to Clays’ appeal, there’s more to the venue than blasting away at virtual targets.

As the son of celebrated bartender Salvatore Calabrese, Jon has a pretty robust background in hospitality but initially spent time pursuing a different path.

Having embarked on a career in the fitness industry as a personal trainer, he joined the Met after a former girlfriend’s father – who happened to be on the murder squad – turned Jon’s head with stories of his work.

But, having worked as a police officer in Newham for three years, the world of restaurants, bars and hotels proved irresistible and quite a contrast to his time wearing a uniform.

One of the pegs at Clays’ Moorgate branch

“When I came to hospitality in 2009, it was anarchy – chaos,” he said.

“People would work hard and be rewarded with management roles – then they’d have to work out how to do them.

“That meant often you’d either get people with authoritarian approaches or micro managers because they’d have imposter syndrome, which was weird.

“At Clays we have a career tree approach that means we will give people the skills and knowledge they need to be a departmental expert and to hone your craft.

“We won’t hinder you if you want to move between departments and try different things either.

“Ultimately we want to grow a business with culture, consistency and expertise so we can deliver on customers’ expectations at a very high level of quality.

“We want people to come to Clays for the game, but then to stay for the food and drink they’ve enjoyed alongside that experience.

“On the drinks side we use techniques such as clarification to produce crystal clear liquids we can pour like a coke but that have an amazing taste and mouth feel.

“That means we can maintain our rapid speed of service without sacrificing quality.

“These are the kinds of things you only see in small artisan bars.

“Our cocktails are signatures and what is important for us is the quality of ingredients and that our drinks reflect the British countryside using produce grown and created in this country wherever possible”

Players use real decommissioned shotguns to play

Wharfers can expect tipples such as Clay Burst, a sweet and sour pink gin creation, Jack’s Orchard, combining the taste of toffee apples with a whisky kick, and the Precision Punch, a banana spiced rum cocktail.

Food-wise, Clays will serve a menu created by culinary director Roger Olsson formerly of The Dorchester, The Ritz and Pied A Terre.

Dishes include Sweetcorn Ribs with paprika salt and a lemon and chilli dip, Cobble Lane Charcuterie and “KFC” tempura cauliflower as well as Loaded Breads topped with Middle Eastern, Indian and Italian flavours.

Jon said where possible Clays would use produce for the UK with a focus on sustainability, quality and provenance.

“We know the farms where our vegetables are grown and our meat is produced and the boats that catch our fish,” he said.

“You’ll find old favourites like scotch eggs and the calamari is melt-in your mouth.

“Everything is made in-house – it’s about elevating the calibre of the experience.

“Next year we’ll be installing an outdoor terrace so guests will walk in through green foliage, an outdoor bar and past heated tables.

“Then the venue itself is on several levels.

“There will be a tree house where a DJ will play, a reception desk with living moss under a glass top, a bar with a 3D scene that plays on the English countryside and the pegs themselves.

“The main bar is at the far end of the venue and looks over to West India Quay. There are also three pegs that can be closed off privately with bi-fold doors for private parties when needed.”

Clays is taking bookings from December 13 online.

The Canary Wharf branch has eight pegs with off-peak bookings for small groups starting at £30 for an hour’s play.

Peak rates for groups of six to 22 cost £70 for 90 minutes of play.

Jon and the team have developed the drinks menu at Clays

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

November 24, 2022November 24, 2022

Canary Wharf: How The Cocktail Club offers Wharfers a place to party

Founder JJ Goodman talks drinks, growth and swinging lights at the new Cabot Square venue

Founder of The Cocktail Club, JJ Goodman – image Matt Grayson

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The lights dangling over the bar at The Cocktail Club in Canary Wharf’s Cabot Square tell a story all of their own that dates back to the brand’s creation in a Covent Garden basement in 2008.

There’s something of the showman about founder JJ Goodman and almost the first thing he does when I turn up for our interview is to energetically swing each pendant by its metal shade out into the bar above the heads of customers.

“We had similar lights at Covent Garden and one night we swung them and the place went off,” he said. “It’s been a thing ever since.”

That’s why you’ll see staff throwing the light fittings around at the Canary Wharf branch. While the company JJ founded is now part of emerging hospitality giant Nightcap PLC – which also owns The Adventure Bar Group and Barrio Familia – this simple anarchic act is a reminder that there’s personality woven through the links of the chain.

Bartenders get to pick the music and each branch gets a bespoke interior, the Wharf’s being heavy on stained glass, graffiti and low lighting.

The drinks it serves combine theatre with precision – a mixture aimed at pleasing both serious drinkers and those up for a heady party.

Old favourites – Mojitos and Espresso Martinis, for example – cost £9.75, while more complex creations are about £13.

These include the likes of the Truffletini – a blend of rum, coffee liqueur, tonka bean syrup and espresso with a chocolate truffle sat on the side of the glass.

It’s a menu that in many ways encompasses JJ’s history as a bartender.

The interior of the Canary Wharf branch – image Matt Grayson

“I’ve been a barman since I was about 16 in my old home town of Worcester,” he said. “I made my first cocktails when I was 17 – it was a Grasshopper.

“There was a shitty little manual on the back of the bar where I worked so I decided to learn to make a few drinks.

“If someone wanted something interesting, I’d make a drink full of sugar and covered in umbrellas and that was good fun.

“Then I got into the Flair world – spinning bottles, all of that. I started entering and winning competitions.”

But JJ was serious too. Moving to London he immersed himself in the bar industry, going on to win the Cocktail World Cup in 2008.

That was the same year he and business partner James Hopkins featured on and won BBC’s The Restaurant and opened the Covent Garden Cocktail Club.

The TV show connected the pair to chef Raymond Blanc and Dragon’s Den investor Sarah Willingham, who became the founder and CEO of Nightcap in 2021 – now The Cocktail Club’s parent company.

“We’ve got 18 branches now alongside the other brands and I think we’ve stumbled on a really nice home for ourselves at Canary Wharf,” said JJ.

“In due course we’d love to bring the rest of Nightcap’s crew to the party.

Finished drinks at the Cabot Square venue – image Matt Grayson

“The area has evolved so much and so quickly in the last couple of years. In terms of hospitality, you now have the top operators in the country and arguably Europe, here.

“We’ve found a brilliantly engaged audience, and if you’re really passionate about what you do, you want to be in the mix, shoulder to shoulder with the best guys out there.

“I’m excited for everyone in Canary Wharf to come, check us out and let their hair down.

“There’s a lot of madness going on in the world, and I promise we’re a fabulous little escape for them, as many times a week as they fancy it.

“We stand out from everybody else on the high street – there are plenty of places where you can go and have a quiet drink with your mates or that after-work catch-up with someone you haven’t seen for a time. We’re never going to compete with that.

“When you create a space with such high energy and fuel it with enough booze, you’re going to make new memories. People will leave their inhibitions at the door.

“So I feel like you should be able to come in here in whatever you want to wear, with whoever you want to come in with.

“We’ve got a really broad demographic as well – it’s a place where you can have a giggle, have some fun, and that’s encouraged by our staff.”

It’s also encouraged by the menu which starts with familiar drinks and delivers a twist.

“We wrote it post-lockdown,” said JJ.

“We looked at our top six classic best-selling cocktails, including the Old Fashioned and the Martini, and we chose to take each of those on a journey.

“So, we’ve got the house classic, then we’ve got the top shelf, where we experiment with more premium brands, and then we’ve got the theatre section, which we championed in the years before Instagram.

“If you love a Mojito, you can go on a journey of discovery, with fabulous variations on something that you know and love and trust.

A bartender creates a drink at The Cocktail Club – image Matt Grayson

“I think trust is really important when you’re charging people £10-£14 a drink – you really have to deliver something great.

“So what we chose to do is present the menu in such a way that people can feel comfortable travelling through a few variations on something they already love.”

Like every business, The Cocktail Club faces staffing pressures and is addressing that through education.

“We launched the Nightcap Bar Academy this year at a facility in Camden with another one on the way in Shoreditch,” said JJ.

“The idea is that we can take people with limited experience and show them the way we like to work.

“Lots of young people have missed out on being exposed to nightlife due to the pandemic and I really feel for them.

“What we can do is educate them on the style of service we give so they can see a career in this industry.

“Being behind the bar is my happy place and I really miss it loads.

“But we strive for very high standards and I’m a bit rusty so I wouldn’t want to embarrass myself, although I’d love it.”

That said, JJ can’t suppress his anarchic edge completely, slapping lampshades and ordering shots for everyone behind the bar, all the while keeping a careful eye on the quality of the drinks going out.

This is carefully choreographed wildness and it’s great.

One of The Cocktail Club's infamous swinging lampshades — One of The Cocktail Club’s infamous swinging lampshades – image Matt Grayson

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

October 12, 2022October 12, 2022

Canary Wharf: How the Boisdale Music Awards act as a showcase for the venue

Event celebrates the breadth and quality of talent that graces the Cabot Square restaurant’s stage

Boisdale Music Awards hosts Jools Holland and Yolanda Brown

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Boisdale Of Canary Wharf recently hosted its annual music awards, with a roster of 14 honours for individuals and groups presented.

While the event recognised the talents of the winners and brought together a diverse crowd in celebration – where else can you see Black Sabbath’s guitarist casually chatting with actor and crooner Hugh Laurie? – it perhaps best served to draw attention to the breadth and quality of the artists Boisdale regularly draws to its stages in Canary Wharf and Belgravia

Effervescent owner Ranald Macdonald plus hosts Jools Holland (patron of music for Boisdale) and boisterous jazz saxophonist YolanDa Brown, presided over the proceedings including awards for the following:

Tony Iommi

Lifetime Achievement Award

As co-founder and the only constant member of ground-breaking heavy metal band Black Sabbath, Tony’s contribution to music alongside Ozzy Osborne, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler is well documented.

Their work includes genre-defining releases such as their eponymous first album and its follow-up, chart-topper Paranoid, named for the song that remains their only UK top 20 single.

Having lost the tips of two of his fingers in an industrial accident at the age of 17, he was inspired to keep playing after listening to a recording of guitarist Django Reinhardt.

After being told the gypsy jazz great was only using two digits having been injured in a fire that left two of his fingers paralysed, Tony redoubled his efforts, going on to make musical history himself.

He said: “Getting this award feels lovely. I’ve got five lifetime achievement awards now, but it’s great – I think any recognition is fantastic, I love it.

“Music is a different way of life now to when we started. I’d always say, get a lawyer and then get going, to those beginning a career now.

“My real advice though would be to love what you’re doing, enjoy it and then whatever else comes is a bonus. You have to enjoy what you do.

“Paranoid the song was on the second album – we’d had the first one, which was in the charts for a long time and then we did Paranoid, which went to No.1.

“It was a throwaway single but it got to No. 4 – we didn’t have enough songs for the album and the producer said we needed another one, just a short track.

“I came up with this idea, then we played it and recorded it in a few minutes and that was that.

“The whole thing about this business is about believing in what you do. I have always believed in what we do and that’s why we’ve been around a long time. It’s because we don’t change from what we love.”

Cleveland Watkiss

Jazz Artist Award

Hackney-born singer and composer Cleveland was named best jazz artist for 2022. Having studied at the London School Of Singing and subsequently at Guildhall School Of Music And Drama, his career took off in the 1980s as a member of the Jazz Warriors with the likes of Courtney Pine and Dennis Rollins.

He has since gone on to work with a diverse and varied collection of artists including The Who, Bjork, Bob Dylan, Art Blakey, Wynton Marsalis and Robbie Williams, to name just a few.

Cleveland said: “It’s always good to feel that your art and your work is appreciated. These awards are really encouraging, they give you a lift – especially in these tough times.

“It’s my wish and desire to keep performing and this award is just more encouragement to keep doing what I do.

“You know that saying – give people their flowers while they’re alive? Well not everyone gets those flowers, so I want to dedicate this to some of the people who inspired me coming up.

“There were a few people who passed away during the pandemic including my aunt, whose funeral I wasn’t able to attend because of Covid. She was like a second mother to me.

“She was one of these people who regardless of the situation would have a positive outlook on life. She was always encouraging us when we were growing up.

“I lost my father when I was nine and I stayed with her as a kid.

“She was always inspirational and, even though she suffered with illness, she’d lift you up.

“There’s other people too like Ray Carless, a fantastic tenor saxophonist in the community in Hackney where I grew up.

“He recently passed away but he was such an icon in terms of the work he did in east London and beyond.

“He was a hugely celebrated musician who played in some of the most iconic jazz bands in the UK. We’d be here all day if I sat here and named them – top artists like Adele and Elvin Jones.

“Ray was a big inspiration to me when I saw what he was doing. I watched him at Ronnie Scott’s when I was in my late teens and I thought: ‘Wow, if he could do that, playing with one of the greatest musicians in the world – Elvin Jones, who played with John Coltrane – then maybe I could too’.

“I want to dedicate this to people like that – people who never really got their flowers when they were alive.”

Gina Larner

Best Up And Coming Artist

Brighton born singer songwriter Gina is set to release her first and, as yet, untitled album later this year.

She said: “It feels really good to win. I sang Heavy Heart, the first single from my new album, which should be out in a few weeks.

“I sing and write Americana and country pop.

“People often see the pink hair and assume punk, but I’ve just loved Americana and country since I was a kid – I really like Stevie Nicks, KT Tunstall and Kacey Musgraves and I listen to a bit of Dolly Parton too.

“I’ve been writing for a long time – don’t get me wrong, my songs were shit originally, 14-year-old me did not write bangers – now, hopefully, 24-year-old me is writing better songs.

“I like to think what I write is very honest – that’s what I aim for.

“I’ll be back at Boisdale supporting KT Tunstall when she plays here on November 11.”

KT Tunstall is set to perform at Boisdale on November 11

3 DIARY DATES FOR BOISDALE OF CANARY WHARF

GIG – The Blackbyrds

Oct 25-29, 9pm, from £24

Audiences can expect jazz-funk and r’n’b from The Blackbyrds, who are set to play five nights at Boisdale Of Canary Wharf in October. Assembled in the mid-1970s in Washington DC by legendary trumpeter Donald Byrd, their output has been sampled by everyone from De La Soul to Massive Attack.

GIG – Mica Paris

Nov 3, 9.30pm, from £49

The UK Queen Of Soul is set to bring her velvety vocals back to Canary Wharf. Known for hit singles including My One Temptation, Breathe Life Into Me and Where Is the Love, audiences can expect a track or two from her critically acclaimed album Gospel, released in 2020.

GIG – KT Tunstall

Nov 11, 9.30pm, from £75

Known for Suddenly I See and Big Black Horse And The Cherry Tree, the Scottish singer-songwriter returns to Cabot Square with support from award-winner Gina Larner.

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

April 28, 2022April 28, 2022

Canary Wharf: How Ian Berry is set to create a new artwork from donated denim

The Poplar-based artist’s piece will be unveiled on the estate for World Environment Day on June 5

Artist Ian Berry, pictured surrounded by jeans in Cabot Square

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Artist Ian Berry wants his work to be seen in real life – so apologies to anyone reading the this.

These reproductions might give you an idea of the kind of pieces he creates, but 2D reproductions on paper or digital screens just don’t cut it.

Based in Poplar, but hailing from Huddersfield via High Wycombe, Australia, Sweden and the Netherlands, the constant in Ian’s life is also his medium – denim.

Cutting, layering and gluing, he creates images and installations using a palette of jeans, constantly pushing to make the material accurately depict all manner of scenes, lighting effects, substances and surfaces.

The reason you’re looking at one of the pieces from Ian’s Behind Closed Doors series is that he’s just embarked on a project in partnership with Canary Wharf Group.

With used clothes donated at Jubilee Place last week, he’ll be stripping out the denim and using it to create an artwork, which will be unveiled on World Environment Day – June 5.

Detail for one of Ian's pieces for his Behind Closed Doors series — Detail for one of Ian’s pieces for his Behind Closed Doors series

“My work needs to be seen in real life to be understood,” said Ian, who works from a studio overlooking the Limehouse Cut canal.

“I don’t really feel like a real artist to those who haven’t seen my work in that way.

“I’d spent the pandemic having seven different shows in other countries – most of them solo and that was tough with all the quarantines and shipping issues.

“I’d just got back from Chile when I got an email from Canary Wharf asking about this project.

“At first I thought it would be great just because I could walk there rather than having to take pieces on aeroplanes.

“I walk through the estate when I catch the Jubilee line, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to get my work seen by more people in real life.

“But it also sounded interesting because of the estate’s sustainability credentials – it’s something that’s taken very seriously whereas some other places just use it for marketing. I’ve not spoken much about sustainability in the context of my work.

“Others have – as recycling or upcycling – but when I started 16 years ago it wasn’t the buzzword it is now.

“The project I’m doing with Canary Wharf Group reflects sustainability and the environment – denim’s terrible in its impact at the end of the day – but there are also good things happening in the industry.

“I don’t believe there’s a material that better reflects contemporary times, good or bad.”

Detail from Ian's Secret Garden — Detail from Ian’s Secret Garden

That really is the crux of things for Ian. While we talk it becomes clear there are all sorts of tensions at work between the artist, his medium and the subjects he chooses.

He tells me denim stands for freedom, democracy and the West to the point where it was banned in Russia and Belarus, where it’s still worn symbolically by dissenters.

Then again, it’s also the clothing of capitalism, excess and greed, with designer jeans selling for astronomical sums.

“I’m interested in people and in the denim industry, in workers’ rights,” said Ian. “I know everyone in the sector and there’s a lot of greenwashing going on – a lot of lying and they even tell me what their lies and exaggerations are. It’s frustrating.”

While Ian’s pieces are necessarily shot through with such issues – how noble attempts to pass on clothing to do good can come unstuck as second-hand garments wind up flooding foreign markets or simply get dumped overseas, for example – the denim he uses is also, importantly, just the stuff he uses to capture the world.

“I use it literally as my paint to represent contemporary life and issues you see every day,” he said.

“I have struggled for 16 years to know what to call them – they’re not paintings, they’re collages, but using just one medium.

“In some there are 16 layers of denim, so they are very sculptural, 3D pieces, and they can be very effective, with the texture of the denim as well. All that gets lost if people look on their phones or laptops.

“The magic in my work is finding the gradients in the denim, the fades, the cat’s whiskers – where it goes from indigo to lighter shades. You can connect them together and get quite a photo-realistic piece.

“Sometimes I achieve that too well and people don’t realise it’s jeans, but you need that ‘aha’ factor for people to connect.

“It happens in America especially, where people look for a while and then get closer and closer and, at about 50cm away, they say: ‘Oh, my God, it’s blue jeans’. I don’t want it to be seen as a gimmick, though.

“I hope people appreciate the craft, the love and attention to detail and they are amazed that the piece is made out of denim.

“I do set myself technical challenges – how to depict shiny, metallic objects or water using this matt material. But the main thing is the subject.

“With the Behind Closed Doors series I wanted to depict this busy city we’re living in, which can be lonely.

“That really connected with people – two out of three were saying: ‘Wow, that’s me’ – and it was kind of special.”

Ian, whose granddad was from east London, said he wasn’t sure what kind of piece he would create from the jeans donated in Canary Wharf.

He said: “Hopefully the piece I create will cause discussion and make people think.

“I can’t give too much away at this stage in case the idea changes but I think it’s going to have an element of my hanging Secret Garden, which turns plants into cotton, into jeans and then back into plants again.

“There’s a nod to sustainability in that – it’s nice because we can make something permanent out of the jeans.

“If you wear a pair for 10 years and then throw them away, it might be just about OK, but now we have a world where people buy them, wear them two or three times and throw them out.”

Ian’s piece will be added to the Wharf’s permanent art collection.

Detail from The Roosevelt, LA, by Ian Berry

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com