fabric

Selected by

Howie B, Producer & DJ

Howie B is an acclaimed producer and composer of experimental-electronic music. Bernstein's early association with Bristol club faves Soul II Soul and Massive Attack inspired him to fuse soul, hip-hop, house and jazz with a twist. He launched his own label, Pussyfoot Records in 1994 having already released tracks under his own name through the noted Mo'Wax imprint. Since then Howie has produced works with artists including U2, Bjork, Tricky, Brian Eno, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Sly and Robbie, Robbie Robertson and U.N.K.L.E. His music has appeared in adverts for Maserati, Lloyds and Range Rover amongst others. As a DJ he tours the globe performing and conducting workshops on music production.
Location

77a Charterhouse Street,
London EC1M 6HJ

020 7336 8898

www.fabriclondon.com
Refurbishment

Giorgio Badalucchi, lead partner Mobo Architects
moboarchitects.com

Fabric is a nightclub in Farringdon, London. It was founded in 1999 in a disused cold storage facility on Charterhouse Street, opposite the famous Smithfield meat market. The Club was voted World No 1 Club in DJ magazine’s Top 100 Clubs Poll in 2007 and 2008, and ranked World Number 2 for several years after. Fabric has three separate rooms with independent sound systems; two of the rooms feature stages for live acts. A feature of the club is its vibrating floor in Room One: known as a “bodysonic” dancefloor, sections of the floor are attached to 400 bass transducers emitting bass frequencies of the music being played.

In 2010, fabric briefly went into administration after its sister club Matter, with whom it had a cross-guaranteed loan, announced it would close for the summer due to financial difficulties suffered as a consequence of continued delays with TfL upgrade of the Jubilee Line. Fabric was put on the market and on 24 June it was announced that fabric was no longer in administration and had been bought by Fabric Life Limited, “a consortium who fully back founders Keith Reilly and Cameron Leslie’s vision.” Fabric is considered the defining force in London’s electronic dance scene. Following 16 months of closure due to the pandemic and the accompanying government regulations, the team behind the legendary club, fabric have been afforded time to introspect, and to make some long anticipated changes with its first major refurbishment. The space has been transformed, from a relocation of the booth in Room 2 to an overhaul of the sound system across the venue. Working with architect Giorgio Badalacchi, the fabric team have drawn on the heritage of the East London club and its surroundings. The Sunken Bar, for example, welcomes new chain-swing seats replacing the iconic beds, as well a butcher-style curtain – a nod to the venue’s former capacity as a meat factory.

“…London had been taken over by the most ghastly, garish mutations of what we thought was ours. It was a complete distortion of everything that was beautiful about this music. All of a sudden, venues were more interested in what shoes and shirt you were wearing than music policy. It was heartbreaking to me. ….it took me seven years to find a venue. I was absolutely determined to find a place where the fundamentals were sacrosanct – a good sound system, good quality amenities, and the rest is sawdust.” Keith Reilly for Red bull.
Interesting facts

The nightclub was used as a filming location for the first season of the BBC thriller series Killing Eve (2018–present), doubling as a Berlin nightclub in the episode “Don’t I Know You?”
Resources

https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/fabric-nightclub-an-oral-history
https://mixmag.net/feature/fabric-reopening-interview-london-nightclub-cameron-leslie

"...it opened a door into a world of brilliant excursions in dance music."

I went to fabric on the opening night back in 1999 . Walking in for the first time I thought to myself, this is exactly how it should feel walking into a nightclub. Total disorientation, a labyrinth of sound. It took me around three years to get my bearings on the place. The design, architecture, style and ambience was totally unique. While alien, it felt totally comfortable, it’s somewhere I look forward to visiting to this day.

When entering fabric you just keep walking down the stairs ( it was originally a cold storage place for the Smithfield’s meat market ) and down again well below street level. There are three different rooms of various sizes . Room 1 and Room 2 are the larger rooms and room 3 the more intimate room . The internal design I would describe as quite brutal finish cement walls with wooden floors.

Metropolitan House at the beginning of the transformation. © Fabric Archive

The psychoacoustics in room 1 and later in room 2 make the whole floor a bass cabinet, creating the impression of a much greater sound pressure level. It’s an innovative concept that many other venues have since adopted. Something else that makes fabric truly stand out back then and to this day is the eclecticism of the curation on each night. Each room has a different genre of music, you could walk through spaces enveloped in Breakbeat, move into Drum and Bass and a few steps further you’re met with Techno. I love that, it opened a door into a world of brilliant excursions in dance music.

"20 years later and I still get the same buzz when I walk into the place ."

"...it opened a door into a world of brilliant excursions in dance music."

"20 years later and I still get the same buzz when I walk into the place ."

See more nominated buildings

Chichester Festival Theatre

Teresa Fry

fabric

Howie B

Royal College of Physicians

Lorenzo Zandri

The London Eye

Lord Deben

Bloomberg Building

Freddie Pownall

Washington New Town

George Clarke

Self Build Group

Jenny Barraclough

Gasholders, Kings Cross

Dominic Wilkinson