Bompas & Parr

Bompas & Parr is a British creative studio and food-and-beverage company founded in June 2007 by Sam Bompas and Harry Parr. The pair are known for treating food as a medium for architecture, installation art, performance, hospitality, and sensory experimentation, with a particular focus on gelatin desserts, commonly called jellies in Britain. Their practice combines culinary production with design and event-making, often creating edible objects or environments that transform familiar buildings, public spaces, and social occasions into theatrical experiences. Bompas and Parr met as teenagers while playing in an orchestra at Eton College during the 1990s. They later decided to work together commercially while completing university. The studio’s early work established its characteristic blend of craftsmanship, spectacle, humor, and scientific curiosity. Using food moulds and related fabrication techniques, the company has made edible decorations modeled on buildings and other architectural forms. Its projects have been presented as both commissioned experiences and public-facing cultural interventions. The studio’s subject matter extends beyond the visual appearance of food. Bompas & Parr has said that its projects investigate the way taste can be changed by synaesthesia, performance, context, and setting. This has led to experiments involving sound, light, scent, temperature, movement, and unusual forms of consumption. The company has claimed to be the first group to record the sound of a wobbling jelly, reflecting its interest in documenting and intensifying the sensory properties of food rather than treating it only as a dish. Its projects have included a glow-in-the-dark alcoholic jelly created for Mark Ronson’s 33rd birthday party and a chewing gum concept designed to change flavor as it is chewed, in the spirit of Willy Wonka-style confectionery. The firm has also participated in culinary-art and design competitions, including an Architectural Jelly Design Competition associated with the London Festival of Architecture. These activities positioned the studio at the intersection of food design, contemporary art, architecture, entertainment, and experiential marketing. Bompas & Parr has repeatedly used prominent public and commercial settings to make food-based installations accessible to broader audiences. In July 2011, it created a rooftop installation for Selfridges on Oxford Street. The roof terrace, which had not been opened to the public since the Second World War, was transformed with a rowing lake dyed green. The project demonstrated the company’s ability to turn a retail venue into a temporary destination through a combination of landscape design, color, performance, and playful food culture. The studio has also developed sensory formats for film and public events. For a one-off outdoor screening of Gregory’s Girl in Edinburgh’s Festival Square, it produced scratch-and-sniff cards intended to synchronize smells with moments in the film. The event was associated with nationwide activity marking the London 2012 Open Weekend and was described as the first outdoor scratch-and-sniff experience in the United Kingdom. In 2015, the company presented Alcoholic Architecture at Borough Market in London. The pop-up occupied an ancient monastery beside the market and allowed visitors to experience vaporized alcohol through an immersive environment, including exposure through the skin, eyes, and lungs. Bompas & Parr’s body of work is therefore less a conventional product range than a portfolio of commissioned installations, temporary venues, food objects, and participatory experiences. Its positioning rests on the combination of edible craft, architectural thinking, sensory research, and public spectacle. The available reference material documents projects in the United Kingdom and collaborations with cultural, retail, entertainment, and event partners, but does not provide reliable information about current ownership, corporate structure, financial performance, or a complete present-day operating footprint.

Sam Bompas and Harry Parr first met when they were 13 and members of the orchestra at Eton College during the 1990s. They later chose to become business partners during their final year at university. In June 2007, they founded Bompas & Parr, establishing a studio centered on food as a material for design, architecture, performance, and public spectacle. The company became associated with highly detailed gelatin desserts and edible structures. Rather than limiting jelly to conventional tableware, Bompas & Parr used moulds and fabrication methods to produce edible decorations modeled on buildings and other architectural forms. This approach gave the studio a distinctive identity within food design: its output could function simultaneously as a dessert, a miniature building, an art object, and a conversation piece. Early and notable commissions included a glow-in-the-dark alcoholic jelly for Mark Ronson’s 33rd birthday celebration and an experimental chewing gum whose flavor changed as it was chewed. These projects established the company’s interest in theatrical food and in the manipulation of expectation. The studio’s work also entered design and culinary-art competitions, including an Architectural Jelly Design Competition organized for the London Festival of Architecture. Bompas & Parr’s stated interests extend to the relationship between flavor and the wider sensory environment. The company has described its practice in terms of synaesthesia, performance, and setting, exploring how surroundings and presentation affect the perception of taste. It has also claimed to have made the first recording of the sound of a wobbling jelly, an example of its effort to treat food as an object with visual, acoustic, and physical properties. In July 2011, the firm designed a public installation on the roof terrace of Selfridges on Oxford Street in London. The terrace had not been open to the public since the Second World War. Bompas & Parr created a rowing lake and dyed the water green, turning a previously inaccessible retail rooftop into a temporary public attraction. The project illustrated the studio’s ability to combine an unusual food-and-leisure concept with an architectural site and a large-scale promotional event. The company also experimented with smell and cinema. For an outdoor screening of Gregory’s Girl in Edinburgh’s Festival Square, it created scratch-and-sniff cards intended to prompt smells at selected moments in the film. The event was linked to nationwide activity connected with the London 2012 Open Weekend and was described as the first outdoor scratch-and-sniff experience in the United Kingdom. The format expanded the company’s practice from edible objects into audience choreography and synchronized sensory participation. On 30 July 2015, Bompas & Parr opened or presented Alcoholic Architecture at London’s Borough Market. The temporary venue occupied an ancient monastery beside the market and used vaporized alcohol to create an immersive environment in which visitors experienced alcohol through their skin, eyes, and lungs. The project became one of the clearest expressions of the studio’s interest in changing the context and mechanics of consumption. Across these projects, Bompas & Parr developed a reputation for combining culinary technique with installation art, architecture, event production, and entertainment. Its documented work includes private celebrations, retail activations, public art, film-related experiences, design competitions, and temporary hospitality spaces. The available material does not establish a detailed corporate history after the 2015 Alcoholic Architecture project, nor does it provide verified information about current ownership, financial results, or a complete list of subsequent commissions.

• 2015

  Alcoholic Architecture

  [1]Bompas & Parren.wikipedia.org

  The company presents an immersive vaporized-alcohol installation in an ancient monastery beside Borough Market in London.

• 2011

  Selfridges rooftop rowing lake

  [1]Bompas & Parren.wikipedia.org

  Bompas & Parr designs a green-dyed rowing lake on Selfridges’ Oxford Street roof terrace for a public promotional installation.

• 2009

  Outdoor scratch-and-sniff film experience

  [1]Bompas & Parren.wikipedia.org

  The studio creates scratch-and-sniff cards for an outdoor screening of Gregory’s Girl in Edinburgh’s Festival Square, synchronized with moments in the film.

• 2007

  Bompas & Parr is founded

  [1]Bompas & Parren.wikipedia.org

  Sam Bompas and Harry Parr establish the British food-and-beverage creative studio in June 2007.

A food-art and experience-design studio that uses culinary materials, especially jelly and gelatin, to create architectural objects, immersive environments, and multisensory public experiences.

• Edible architecture

  Architectural jellies

  Detailed gelatin desserts and edible decorations shaped as buildings or other architectural structures. These works demonstrate the studio’s central method of translating architectural forms into culinary objects and are associated with its participation in culinary-art and architectural design activities.

• Immersive hospitality experience · 2015

  Alcoholic Architecture

  A temporary multisensory drinking environment in which visitors entered an atmosphere containing vaporized alcohol. The Borough Market presentation used an ancient monastery as its setting and explored how the physical environment can alter the experience of alcohol consumption.

• Experimental confectionery

  Changing-flavor chewing gum

  A Willy Wonka-inspired chewing-gum concept designed to change flavor during chewing. It exemplifies Bompas & Parr’s interest in time-based taste experiences and playful food technology.

• Event confectionery

  Glow-in-the-dark alcoholic jelly

  A luminous alcoholic jelly created for Mark Ronson’s 33rd birthday party. The project combined the studio’s gelatin expertise with theatrical lighting and event-specific presentation.

• 2011Selfridges rooftop installation

  United Kingdom

  Bompas & Parr transformed the Selfridges Oxford Street roof terrace into a public installation featuring a green-dyed rowing lake. The project formed part of a promotional event and used an unusual temporary landscape to create a public attraction above the department store.

  Outcome. The installation opened a historically inaccessible rooftop to the public and reinforced the studio’s profile in large-scale experiential design.

  Source
• 2009Scratch-and-sniff screening of Gregory’s Girl

  United Kingdom

  The studio produced scratch-and-sniff cards for a one-off outdoor screening in Edinburgh’s Festival Square, with audience members prompted to release scents at selected points in the film.

  Outcome. The event was described as the first outdoor scratch-and-sniff experience in the United Kingdom.

  Source

• 2015

  Launch of Alcoholic ArchitectureProduct launch

  Background

  Bompas & Parr pursued its interest in multisensory consumption by creating a temporary venue in an ancient monastery beside Borough Market.

  Action taken

  The studio presented an immersive room filled with vaporized alcohol, allowing visitors to experience the substance through exposure to the surrounding atmosphere.

  Aftermath

  The project became a prominent example of the company’s experimental approach to hospitality and sensory design. No verified financial aftermath is available.

  Source

1. 1Bompas & Parren.wikipedia.org