Fitness in London has become a way of life. A pair of Lucas Hugh or Lululemon leggings are designed and made with the same level of detail, precision and consideration of aesthetics as any designer jeans. A single class and a smoothie can cost the same as drinks out with a friend and more urbanites are eschewing that cocktail for a sweat session. BXR, one of the latest high-end fitness facilities to open in London, is leading the way. Set in Marylebone, it’s a spectacular 12,000-square-foot space, with two floors and considerable six-metre-high ceilings. Where BXR truly moves the dial is on its fitness offering: it’s a boxing gym. World champion Anthony Joshua trains there, as do Victoria Secret models. That balance of grit, athletic authenticity and ultra luxury is not easy to achieve. Here you will find handmade backlit mirrors in the changing rooms, design cues inspired by Bottega Veneta handbags, custom-made braided leather ropes snaking from the ceilings and members can cosset their hands in made-t0-measure Di Nardo boxing gloves while in the ring. Herein we spoke with BXR CEO Olia Sardarova and Marie Soliman, co-founder of Bergman Interiors who designed the inimitable space.
How did you come up with the concept behind BXR?
Olia Sardarova: So, you come in and it’s very much like New York style. In New York they only have the ring, maybe like one treadmill and one bike and that’s it. Because we’re in London and people tend to want a little bit more, I thought we’d expand, and I’ll have more equipment, and this is how it started. And when I found this beautiful, beautiful location that was much bigger then it evolved into then having the studios, the bigger lounge, and then all the other elements kind of came on top gradually. The boxing ring is our stage, and this is why we’ve elevated this area so everything else is almost overlooking like an amphitheatre.
Gyms and fitness are really becoming part of a lifestyle, and boxing in particular is having a moment, how did this impact the concept for BXR?
Olia: What I realised very early on when I was writing the business plan is that the market is very much split into those who want to do a real technical workout, learn the techniques, want to train in the ring and those, like me for example, the girls who just want boxing for the arms and the abs. And a lot of girls find it very intimidating to go and train in the ring. So that’s how the studios started.
The facilities beyond the gym itself – the changing rooms, the products used are fantastic – what was the thought process behind this?
Olia: This was done on purpose because every time I’m doing a tour people go ‘wow’. The thinking behind it was to create upstairs as very raw, very gritty, black and concrete. And then you go into the changing rooms, and you lose yourself. You’re training like a champion with the best equipment and then recovering like a champion as well.
Marie, your background isn’t in fitness or sports per se, were you intimidated about the idea of working on a gym?
Marie Soliman: No, it wasn’t intimidating because I’m a hotel designer, working on both spas and commercial. So, for me that was actually very natural. We work on tons of hotels like the Four Seasons, the Dorchester and the Belmond Botswana, I did the Lodges. So, I’ve designed many, many gyms [in those hotel spaces]. For me it was an opportunity. Olia had a vision for an extremely different gym to anything we have seen in London, and for me that was amazing exposure.
Olia: I actually sat down with five or six interior design companies before I met Marie and everyone I spoke to they were all very prominent, competent with massive portfolios, but nothing just stuck with me. It was one word that Marie said like on the couch in my house, she said the word ‘timeless’. She was like everything I do has got that note of something classic. I want to create a longevity to the project; I didn’t just want to create a contemporary, cool gym where everyone goes for a year and then forgets about it. And that’s how it was a done deal.
Tell me about navigating BXR’s modern feel and your desire for longevity?
Marie: Speaking with Olia, it wasn’t just a job. Her passion for the project was infectious. We started talking about what is BXR, why will it be different, and we started weaving in a story about boxing as well. So we started by saying how about an industrial chic, so it’s not rough, rough, rough. It is rough, but rough elegance and timeless, so it will never be out of style. Men love it, women love it. People take pictures in it. Clients train and are actually happy just to be in the space.
Olia: It also helps to have two females behind it because most of the interior design agencies I sat down with were run by males, and they always started to stray into the extreme industrial. So, everything was metal, everything was black, and I was like no it’s not me, it’s not the business. I want the business to have all these different facets and not be intimidating to women as well. So they can appreciate the antique mirrors that we’ve used. We’ve used this one colour downstairs in the lounge, for example, a warm colour, which goes perfectly with the grey walls and softens the whole thing. At BXR we stand by the principles of training really hard, and then also being able to have a sports massage afterwards and relax in this luxurious environment.
Tell us about your design process Marie?
Marie: It always starts as a concept and a story. So we don’t just jump into a kind of style. We say ‘what is our story?’ So, it’s a boxing gym, it’s backed by Anthony Joshua, and then we start building the story by building the material. So, first we start with the process, thinking what textures we like and what are we offering? When you design a space you have a journey to create for the clients, and you have to make it exceptional, and you need to have an experience behind it.
How do you build a company and a brand like BXR?
Olia: It’s about investing and building a brand and all the elements that come with it. So, we started way before I even met Marie; we started with a branding agency and developed loads of fonts and words that we are allowed to use and that we’re not allowed to use. There’s a whole culture and cult around it. We’re developing a clothing line with BXR; we’re developing a beautiful large lounge, which has plugs everywhere so people can stay and work all day. Sometimes I work there and I love to have members come up to me and say ‘Hi, who are you, are you a member?’ And I say ‘No I’m here all the time; I own the place. I kind of live here.’ And very often the response I get back is ‘Oh I live here too. For me it’s an escape from everyone, from my husband, from my work, from my kids. And I say ‘That’s kind of the same for me as well.’ And that’s what I wanted to create. I think in the modern world where we travel so much and we see so much what we start lacking is that community, and the sense of belonging to something.
How do you maintain a loyal clientele and innovate as well?
Olia: With all the education that people get nowadays they want a more scientific approach to their training. What we’ve done is we’ve hired two very distinct teams, one is a boxing team, which is five professional fighters teaching you boxing. So these are the guys that still fight even though they might not have the most in-depth personal training qualifications, but they really know what’s what when it comes to boxing. And then the second team is comprised of strength and conditioning coaches, so these are guys who have dedicated their lives to strength and conditioning. They have Master’s degrees in sports science, they have a degree in nutrition so they give you all their rounded service, look after every single muscle, and then they can refer you to the clinic. So a lot of them also work in the clinic doing rehab stuff, which is not like in every other gym. Every other gym wherever you go in London has a lot of personal trainers. Achieving a level 1-3 as a personal trainer in this country takes 2-3 weeks and it costs £2,000. I found that out- which is why I stopped going to the gym in London – a lot of them were doing it in between waitressing jobs, literally just to make money during the day. These guys [at BXR] they’re like doctors, they’re proper professionals. The funniest thing was when I had a very famous model visiting, I was like ‘Guys who’s going to train her? who’s going to train her?’ None of them said yes. And whenever we have an NFL player or NBA player, proper, real high-class athletes they’re all like, ‘I want to train him, I want to train him.’ So, that indicates to me how professional they are, how almost geeky they are about what they do, which is really cool.
Marie: And as Olia said one of the cultures in many gyms – because we had to go to many gyms to see how they worked – they work in their own in isolation, they don’t want anyone to look at eachother. Whereas with BXR we said the ring is the main star. In the middle of the room is a champion in the making, but as well the people on the treadmills they are overlooking him, so it’s inspiring to the athlete in the ring. So actually, instead of training looking at the wall or a screen, you’re training with everyone and you’re in the community. For us that was one of the big impulses behind BXR, how to create a journey for everyone, and how people connect. It’s not just a gym, it’s like another family where you make friends and you speak about everything after you train.
