Boutique spa Gazelli House – the flagship location of Azerbaijani skincare company Gazelli – has opened in London with an aim to promote holistic skincare – both through traditional facial treatments and also by addressing emotional and physical wellbeing with guest speakers and practitioners.

Jamila Askarova, founder of Gazelli, said that while the brand’s bespoke treatments, diagnostic facials and massages are featured, she wanted to take Gazelli House beyond a traditional spa.

"We wanted to take it one step further,” she explained. “We wanted to transform skincare into a lifestyle."

The three-storey townhouse in London’s Kensington neighbourhood aims to make guests feel at home, and features rooms designed as sitting rooms and a library, as well as three skincare treatment rooms.

The space is filled with Art Deco antiques, commissioned artworks, bookshelves filled with books designed to be taken down and read – and comfortable armchairs in which to sink into and read them.

"We want guests to treat Gazelli House like a home,” said Askarova. “It's not difficult, because we've set out to make it feel like just that: cosy, beautifully worn – someplace people won't be scared to leave a mark on the table with their coffee cups – a place where you feel comfortable."

Guests are invited to drop in, strike up a conversation with other guests, play Scrabble, or dip into informal discussions with visiting practitioners, creating a social, communal space rather than just a spa to show up at for appointments.

The Sky Parlour on the top floor is set up for visiting specialist practitioners who conduct informal, one-to-one consultations in areas of life-coaching, kinesiology, meditation or acupuncture.

“It’s a way to discover new practices – therapies that members might never have thought about exploring – or perhaps never come across,” said Askarova. “The Gazelli House is a launch pad for all of these innovative, exciting therapies, but primarily it’s a refuge – a place where members can open up, address what has been holding them back, or simply contemplate.”

The three treatment rooms are furnished with hand-painted, floral tiles and tables from Gharieni.

Gazelli has developed a three-stage diagnostics programme that includes a first-step of targeted questions that help establish character traits, values and overall health and wellbeing. This is followed by a seven-phase facial or body analysis that examines the characteristics of the skin, and is used to inform Gazelli’s Prescriptive Treatment plan.

Prescriptive Treatments combine traditional facials with technology, including oxygen therapy, microdermabrasion, high-frequency, micro-needling and radio frequency.

After the diagnostics, guests receive an individual treatment plan with steps for ongoing treatments, as well as suggestions of additional workshops, speakers or practitioners that they might be interested in.