Author
James Darton
Contributing Editor
It’s always refreshing when your interview subject lives up to the expectations set by their work. Sam Bompas is one such interviewee who doesn’t disappoint. His answers are as bright, full of life and all over the place as the things he creates with business partner Harry Parr. Food provocateurs, flower-loving champagne quaffers, retro-futuristic sculptors, armpit-centric matchmakers… Well, it might be best to just read on yourselves for a glimpse into their positively tantalising world.
![1 Floom Magazine Bompass And Parr Thermochromatic Flowers Pierre Jouet Colourchanging 1](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompass_and_parr_thermochromatic_flowers_PierreJouet_colourchanging_1_160307_125116.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=ee5fa016a91486ca8b790e04b40947a9 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompass_and_parr_thermochromatic_flowers_PierreJouet_colourchanging_1_160307_125116.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=306e6f8a5fd951a6e2d29565c7e940bf 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompass_and_parr_thermochromatic_flowers_PierreJouet_colourchanging_1_160307_125116.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=64bbad4d51ba184d8ee099b6565568f1 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompass_and_parr_thermochromatic_flowers_PierreJouet_colourchanging_1_160307_125116.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=277b1ff5c90617766a46c4013831daac 400w)
How did Bompas & Parr come into being? What were you both doing before making the leap?
Harry and I are old friends and have now known each other for most of our lives. It means that by now some of our staff think we are psychic – we’ve been talking about our approach to design, food, architecture and the cosmos [for a long time]. Few words need to be said to convey huge amounts of meaning. As Harry’s not super talkative sometimes I have to translate his mysterious looks and laser eyes to the rest of the team!
We started Bompas & Parr nearly nine years ago as something fun to do on the weekend. It’s still fun to do but has now expanded to dominate all waking hours.
Originally our focus was on jelly. As we couldn’t afford the antique copper moulds we wanted to use, Harry started using the skills, techniques and technologies he’d learnt while training to be an architect to design jellies.
This approach of propagating techniques appropriated from different disciplines is now a key approach of ours. We love the creative rush that comes with sitting down with an ethnobotanist, micro-biologist, experimental psychologist, mycologist or magician!
![1 Floom Magazine Bompas And Parr Jelly Buckingham Palace Photo Credit Ann Charlott Ommedal](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Jelly_Buckingham_palace_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=c241441f4d0c3663899b5bcc20dab08b 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Jelly_Buckingham_palace_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=5b03bc86ccc040deb1f51104439c3092 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Jelly_Buckingham_palace_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=3f025a73f0d1dc282ef0856554ebae4f 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Jelly_Buckingham_palace_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=b930a67a45c560ae08654bbfc2b3bf4e 400w)
Whilst predominantly working with food, a lot of your work seems to be concerned with providing a multi-sensory experience. Could you talk a little about this and how you try to captivate all senses beyond taste?
Food is the ultimate multi-sensory medium. If you are cooking for someone you are luxuriously addressing all the senses. Even sound – both through bone conductivity and mastication and a grand playlist; there is nothing worse than a restaurant with a poor acoustic profile.
Now we set out to delight the full gamut of the senses – giving folks a total sensory assault. One that grips them by the throat and says, “on your knees!” in a stentorian voice.
A lot of your projects contain a very physical element beyond the conceptual/food-focused part. How do you go about reacting to a brief? Does the food always come first?
All our ideas start with a simple two-word concept. Lava Banquet, Multisensory Fireworks, Breathable Booze or Thermochromatic Flowers. It then has to work experientially for the people who attend and visually and verbally for those who can’t and are seeing it in the press and on social media. Ultimately it has to have a total emotional impact. Renoir said, “I paint with my penis.” We take the same approach.
What does a typical day look like for you at Bompas and Parr? If indeed there is such a thing…
This is beyond impossible as there is so much vigour and variety between days. One day last week, for example, I worked on an armpit-sniffing speed dating event, took delivery of a black metal electric wheel chair, developed cocktail recipes for the Museum of Sex in NYC and began researching the future of plants.
Your website highlights a prominent list of 'fine art' projects you've undertaken. How do these come about? Do you approach them differently to the way you would approach a commercial brief?
We don’t differentiate between fine art projects, self-initiated projects, private commissions and installations for brands. I suspect the laureled artists of yore didn’t either. Ultimately it is about doing excellent work that gives participants and viewers a compelling emotional experience.
![1 Floom Magazine Bompas And Parr Heavenly Tonics Photo Credit Ann Charlott Ommedal](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Heavenly_Tonics_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=5226bc89787d2ce26735fb5ec5224da3 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Heavenly_Tonics_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=3d1c93179d94f83053170c1cfe5d9975 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Heavenly_Tonics_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=c694da0cc098878c3ce54603872c2988 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Heavenly_Tonics_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=daeed871037682d9d075a1bfecfa0fbf 400w)
Let’s turn to your recent, flower-focused project for The Edition Hotel. How did the idea for that come about? Was there a link between the flowers and the champagne beyond simply being strong signifiers of the Valentine's Day experience?
So Perrier Jouet, the champagne house we were working with, started with a love story. What’s more, the house has always been hugely interested in innovations in botany and the relationship between art and nature. Firstly for viniculture and the love of the vine, but also for the glory of the plant itself. Charles Perrier kept over 300 different varietals of orchid in his jungle hot houses.
Could you tell us a little about the technology behind those amazing colour changes?
We were impregnating the flowers with thermochromatic paints and liquid crystal. This allowed them to change colour dramatically in response to heat – that of a flame, or the hot breath of a lover!
Do you see any parallels between the joys of beautiful flowers and the joys of a great food experience?
The two are intrinsically interlinked. Flower’s delight the eye on the best tables and I actually wrote an essay on the subject for our book, Feasting with Bompas & Parr
![1 Floom Magazine Bompas And Parr Perrier Jouet Fleurs Photo Credit Bompas And Parr](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Perrier_Jouet_Fleurs_photo_credit_bompas_and_parr.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=75f261475233b5004a06c62797e79a56 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Perrier_Jouet_Fleurs_photo_credit_bompas_and_parr.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=d81206e2be757ab986928b78f4c6b83c 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Perrier_Jouet_Fleurs_photo_credit_bompas_and_parr.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=e1d8b9ebe3aec9dff2c341d824b5a0e2 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Perrier_Jouet_Fleurs_photo_credit_bompas_and_parr.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=7ac88bb598beea6689f4b3127643c9bc 400w)
Do you have any other exciting projects coming up that you'd like to share with us?
Right now we are working on our next book Awesome Cocktails out in July. We are also working on whole cow cookery; the next chapter for the British Museum of Food; a new cultural institution; collaborating with some excellent arts institutions like MAM in Sao Paulo, and still also doing jellies for people’s weddings.
Any plans to work with flowers or plants again in the future?
To the hilt. They bring a joy which is the core message of Bompas & Parr. At the moment we are working on four projects with flowers including one which will allow you to experience the consciousness of a plant.
Flowers are also a crucial part of our work with food and mixology. At the moment we are studying the recipes of the ancient Druids for use in our bar, Alcoholic Architecture. According to the writings of Caesar and Tacitus they were adepts at plant lore. A fitting inspiration for drinks in a bar where there is a breathable cloud of Gin & Tonic – like the lost weather of Albion!
![1 Floom Magazine Bompas And Parr Breathe Photo Credit Ann Charlott Ommedal](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_breathe_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=c58e0cd6b0d87d846b20178e5d36ce18 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_breathe_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=49633fc225f712701ab1b5375fb74e9d 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_breathe_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=9b2c1fdd75f4039155e72633c5fc3c92 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_breathe_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=ece698e6c9603b5c74cf3ffd8e246f21 400w)
Do you send flowers as gifts? What do you think it is about flowers that can make them such good gifts?
It is essential. It breaks my heart when I am with a girl who has never been sent flowers before. I send them with all speed and splendour.
You sometimes have to be careful though. The first time I sent a bouquet to my first girlfriend I called her in the evening and she was in tears. She thought I’d dumped her through the medium (and archaic language) of flowers. When I assured her this wasn’t the case she thought I’d done something truly terrible. It took me a full evening of wooing to persuade her that I just loved her and wanted to celebrate her femininity!
Do you have a favourite flower?
Always ultra-tropicals (that hopefully fruit) like the Monstera Deliciosia. The fleshy spathes are said to taste like fruit salad!
![1 Floom Magazine Bompas And Parr Perrier Jouet Fleurs Photo Credit Ann Charlott Ommedal](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Perrier_Jouet_Fleurs_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=eba3232aa1e476e1253a09e6a237263d 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Perrier_Jouet_Fleurs_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=ab8b470a9669fc3139c26bdf92b04e50 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Perrier_Jouet_Fleurs_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=175eb52eb7f2ac31bd425c551fbe5264 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_bompas_and_parr_Perrier_Jouet_Fleurs_photo_credit_Ann_Charlott_Ommedal.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=412fa297dce0bdc991a141290e9b0b90 400w)