Writer Sanjuna Budhani puts down the pen and picks up the pencil instead for the inaugural Sketch & Sip event at The Zetter Clerkenwell
Art, for me, has always been intimidating. The thought of drawing, painting, sketching has always left me feeling inadequate and mildly envious of those who could manage to draw a stick person’s limbs in proportion.
But every now and then I steel and convince myself with platitudes about the best time to plant trees and thousand mile journeys. And so when the opportunity was presented to take part in the inaugural Sip and Sketch event at The Zetter Clerkenwell, I thought maybe it was time to revisit that tree.
Culture in Clerkenwell
When one thinks of the most iconic or most visited areas of London, Clerkenwell doesn’t even crack the top ten. Sitting just beyond the boundary of the City of London, the area has a long and rich history of political movements and industry. While much of this is unknown to tourists and Londoners alike, the Zetter Clerkenwell does a spectacular job of incorporating the history of its building into the hotel’s decor and each of the hotel’s thirteen rooms are unique in their design.
Aged oak meets geometric paintings, meets Greek columns, meets pop art. But it doesn’t feel noisy or gaudy. The Zetter Clerkenwell must be one the few places where it may have been fun to watch the paint dry. There’s so much to take in, from the hand painted wallpaper to the newspapers of yore pasted on the walls, all tucked away behind a beautiful baby blue door.
Drinks in the parlour
I never thought that curry leaf would work in a cocktail nor garam masala in a syrup but boy oh boy did the Curry Leaf Sour deliver! The cocktails, all inspired by the traditional flavours of countries like Japan and Cuba, are wonderfully inventive. Ingredients like sumac, coconut yoghurt, and blue corn shape the complex, whimsical and just downright fun cocktails.
Ripping off the plaster
Despite my quite vocal pre-apologies about my artistic skills to my fellow attendees, the Sip and Sketch session, led by the extremely talented China of ArtistAnd, was an unburdened hour of feel good child-like play.
With zero expectations and no time to overthink, we were encouraged to put pencil to paper and see what sprang forth, while sipping on some of Zetter’s softly smooth and well rounded Seymour’s Blanc wine (they also do a Wilhemina’s rouge). I also found the process of making friends is expedited when you have to draw a portrait of that person in one minute. Each reveal was followed by a chorus of laughter.
The Wordrobe Verdict
The Zetter is a distinctly beautiful hotel and I thoroughly enjoyed the hour of sketching in such charmingly eccentric surroundings. I still may not have an artistic eye, but darn it, it was fun to try.
Start the adventure
Where: 49-50 St John’s Sq, London EC1V 4JJ
How: Find out more and make a booking via thezetter.com
Words by Sanjuna Budhani, writer
