It’s not every day you’re given the opportunity to work with one of the very best talents in the world of tennis! So, when we were, Team Gillies jumped at the chance to be involved. Jamie Murray (who founded and co-ordinated the ‘Battle of the Brits’ event held at the P&J live in Aberdeen) reached out to us to ask if we could style various rooms for the players and families who will be attending the event. Here’s how we got involved:
The ‘Battle of the Brits’ players, competing for the trophy included Jamie Murray (seven-time Grand Slam champion in doubles and mixed doubles, former World No. 1 in men’s doubles, and Davis Cup winner!) and Sir Andy Murray (the former World No. 1, two-time Wimbledon champion and US Open winner). The tournament gave Scottish sports fans their first chance to watch ‘The Murrays’ play live on home turf since Andy took on Roger Federer in the Andy Murray Live event in Glasgow in November 2017. The Murray brothers were joined by Jonny O’Mara and Aidan McHugh to form ‘Team Scotland’. They battled it out on the court against ‘Team England’, including Dan Evans, Neal Skupski, Jack Draper and Joe Salisbury. The ultimate rivalry, Scotland vs England!
We were tasked with styling 3 spaces for the event:
- Team Scotland’s players’ lounge
- Team England’s players’ lounge
- Family lounge area
We decided to style both of the players lounges to represent their respective countries. Team Scotland’s room was adorned with tartan and tweed, and team England’s room featured rose red leather sofas.
We then tackled the family area. This space was to be used by up to forty spectators behind the scenes. We decided the best route was to provide large comfy sofas that could cater to as many people as possible. We chose to use our Jaxon sofa collection for this as they are ultra-comfy and the blue colourway was just another way for us to sneak in our support for the Scotland team.
Jamie’s mission was to showcase the great tennis talent that Britain has to offer and the event was a great success!
The two-day battle resulted in a win for England. Gillies Financial Director, a huge tennis fan, attended the event alongside those at Gillies, who helped set up and style the spaces for the players. All reported it was a triumphant event and a brilliant display of British talent.
We even managed to get both Jamie and Andy to sign one of our classic Jude Chairs, which you will find on display in our Broughty Ferry store in the New Year.
It’s fair to say we’re very proud to be Scottish!