The Diary: Gentleman’s Journal and Luca Faloni host The Founder’s Dinner

A very good night to be a business card

Words: Joseph Bullmore
Photography: Jonathan Wilson

In the backroom of Daphne’s, with a roaring fire and a ceiling bedecked with the first bloom of Christmas baubles, a group of founders gathered to toast the year gone by. It was Luca Faloni – London’s favourite menswear founder, surely – who did a lot of the gathering, with a tight-knit (ho-ho) group arriving at his King’s Road store for Italian aperitivi and good Prosecco, before stomping over to Daphne’s for the feast proper. Both Faloni himself and Gentleman’s Journal founder Harry Jarman stood up to say a few words, giving a collective round of back-pats to all those present. “Some of us are selling our companies, some of us are just thinking about making payroll,” Jarman said, “but all of us are united by our love of cashmere.” Hear, hear! It is not always easy being a founder, of course, but the excellent Daphne’s risotto and some hearty primitivo certainly helped. Guests included Matthew Pohlson (Omaze), Daisy Knatchbull (Knatchbull), Luca Maggiora (Tramp), Violet Manners (HeritageX) and Jojo Regan (Manors). All in all, a very good night to be a business card.