GUY RITCHIE'S WILD KITCHEN CAPSTONE
“You want all the benefits of a very simple, primal natural life, with all the benefits of evolution and technology that we have managed to refine over the past few hundreds or thousand years, so you can have the best version of a natural life”.
INTRODUCTION
I met Nigel True, the Wingman for Guy Ritchie's Capstone project, at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2022. It was the public unveiling of his WildKitchen. Intrigued by the stylish outdoor kitchen and upon learning it was Guy Ritchie's passion project from Nigel, I knew I had to follow up.
Guy Ritchie comes across as quite a self-aware gentleman yet a man who appreciates the more primitive facets of being human, For example, he hasn’t chosen to eat indoors for the past six years. Clearly, Ritchie is a person who thrives on the intensity of filmmaking. However, periods of intensity require the counterbalance of periods of solace. A quieter life of other passions after the highs produced during the creative expression of directing a film.
His personal style has been described as a mixture of cheeky-chappy East London vibe meets tweed and peaked caps of his rural life of hunting, shooting, and fishing. Not to mention his black belts in both judo and jiu-jitsu. He is a mixture of cashmere: grand, Mayfairian, aristocratic estates with more and caveman: primal pleasures, hunting, and cooking with fire. He is clearly self-aware calling the company housing his Capstone project the Cashmere Caveman Co. His Capstone combines a passion for luxury, fire, BBQ, socialising and the great outdoors. His Wild Kitchen Capstone represents an obsession with the outdoor luxury living experience. One superfan/customer? His close friend David Beckham.
CORNERSTONE
At just 29, Guy Ritchie made his film debut which quickly put him on the map. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was a 1998 smash hit film. This success came 14 years after leaving school at 15 (reportedly expelled from numerous private schools for drug use, his tenth school). Ritchie bypassed traditional education, entering the film industry via entry-level jobs. This marked the beginning of what became a distinguished film directing career. He clearly demonstrated an intention to forge his own path, shunning conventional training and typical film career trajectories.
There were interesting connections to aristocracy in his childhood – his mother remarried a baronet, the 11th Baronet of Loton Park. This exposed him to the British upper class and landed gentry. Yet, from a young age, Ritchie displayed a spirit of adventure, unconventionality, determination, and independence.
"I think I wanted to be a filmmaker when I was at school because I couldn't do anything else. I never attended film school, the work of film school graduates was boring and unwatchable," said Ritchie.
KEYSTONE
Guy Ritchie made his name as the director of highly successful British gangster films, the likes of Snatch and The Gentlemen as well as Sherlock Holmes.
Alongside his successful filmmaking career, he has his side projects that have made mainstream press in the past… for example his former pub in Mayfair, The Punch Bowl. Ritchie bought the pub in 2008 as part of a group with Madonna and London nightclub entrepreneurs. He would sell that in 2013 but since then has bought two other pubs (including one with David Beckham).
Ashcombe House: A Haven for Passion Projects
After the success of Lock Stock, Ritchie, with Madonna acquired Ashcombe House, a 1000-acre area of outstanding natural beauty nestled in rural Wiltshire estate including Ashcombe Farm. He quickly set about making the estate a home for his passion projects. He converted an old barn to create a small independent brewery onsite, producing Gritchie beer by the Gritchie Brewing Company- with two main natural ingredients from the estate: Maris Otter malt barley harvested close by and local water sourced from beneath the ground of his land to create the beers.
By 2009 Ritchie had also integrated a sporting lake into the estate. Ritchie re-established wildlife such as fallow deer and developed Ashcombe House as one of the UK’s top ten game bird shooting venues in the country.
RITCHIE’S CAPSTONE: AL FRESCO, FIRE AND FEASTING WITH WILD KITCHEN
Many might not know that Ritchie harbors a deep passion for outdoor cooking. He has confessed to owning over 30 different BBQs. He admits he is happiest eating outdoors, even in midwinter. Yet he soon found he was the only one of his family that would brave or endure the cold. He had the idea to design the deluxe beast of a BBQ to entertain family and guests for al fresco dining for all year round.
Since embarking on his Capstone project in 2015, Ritchie has meticulously refined numerous outdoor kitchen prototypes, culminating in Wild Kitchen’s launch in May 2022. Ritchie included a sneak peek of a previous prototype in his 2019 film The Gentleman.
It has been a truly personal invention to him, working closely with Nigel True to bring his project to life- from ideas about accessories, materials selection, and design:
“Guy has texted me on average three times a day with ideas and refinements. He is truly passionate about this project- loving thinking about all the details- down to the perfect rivets” remarked Nigel to Capstones Co.
FIRE WITHOUT COMPROMISE
The WildKitchen comprises of two products: WildTable and WildTent. WildTable is an outdoor kitchen providing all you need to cook communally outdoors. WildTent is the world’s first fully retractable canvas and hardwood tent. It is a brand-new way to cook, gather, socialise and eat.
The WildTable can burn either wood or charcoal (charcoal is considered the pinnacle of BBQing). It provides the benefits of a fire pit without the downside of lack of control and smoke. It has patents including a heating table with an adjustable grill and a glass lid to watch the cooking unfold.
The key to the WildTable is the ‘skilt’ which efficiently controls the heat under the table retaining the warmth where you want it. The heat is trapped with a velvet curtain that guests sit and tuck their knees under keeping them warm and enabling the WildKitchen to be a communal experience.
MODERN LUXURY MEETS PRIMAL INSTINCTS
Ritchie has a formula for his Wild Kitchen Capstone: primitive man x cashmere… The passion project is all about combining his unique blend of primitive appeal and modern comfort. Luxury with simplicity.
“You want all the benefits of a very simple, primal natural life, with all the benefits of evolution and technology that we have managed to refine over the past few hundreds or thousand years, so you can have the best version of a natural life” says Ritchie.
As Ritchie further elaborated in an interview with The Times Luxx Magazine Ritchie says:
“There’s a sweet spot before it becomes so domesticated and safe that it loses its primordial intention. You want to feel a little bit out in the woods and in with nature”.
GUY RITCHIE’S LORES
Lore, signifying the passing of knowledge and traditions, is a running theme for Guy Ritchie. It's no surprise then that his brewery produces six core beers named after different aspects of lore: English Lore, Angel's Lore, Moon Lore, Session Lore, Summer Lore, and Winter Lore. They are also served at his London pub aptly named Lore of the Land. On the WildKitchen website delves deeper into the concept with its Ten Lores outlining the philosophy behind this innovative approach to cooking, gathering and sharing meals.
This Capstone is for anyone who wants to lure friends and family to relax outdoors for lunches that merge into dinners, heating toes and knees tucked under the table from the burning embers, providing the primeval experience of all eating together around a fire. If it’s good enough for superfan David Beckham….
For more information please visit the Cashmere Caveman Co website HERE
To read other Food & Wine Capstones:
The King’s Coronation Capstone HERE
Michael Baum’s Vivant Capstone HERE
Michelin Star Wingmen Article HERE
Future Technology in Nutrition Report HERE
To read other Luxury Capstones:
Andrew Winch’s Partnership Capstone HERE
Konrad Bergstrom’s Silent Capstone HERE