Futuristic zero-gravity bathing experience debuting at London spa will allow guests to ‘float in music’

The Mandrake, a five-star boutique hotel in London’s Fitzrovia district, will unveil a playful new spa in 2025, offering guests a unique “physical and mental massage” hydrotherapy experience.

The 700sq m facility will launch with a Wavess Wellness Pool – a circular, multi-sensory immersion pool – designed to let guests “float in music and sacred vibrations” using waterhaptic technology to make the pool vibrate with sound at low frequencies.

The zero-gravity flotation experience will be enhanced with soundscapes, chromotherapy and visuals to offer a full-body wellness experience.

Claimed to be a first in the wellness industry, the pool has been created through a partnership between Damu, immersive design studio Metaspheric and wellness technology company, Wavess.

Wavess founder and CEO Arny B Arnold claims the experience will mimic how a baby experiences the world in the womb.

The Damu spa – launching Q1 2025

The spa is scheduled to open in January at the quirky seven-year-old 33-key property – owned by entrepreneur and art collector Rami Fustok – which is recognised for its flamboyant and eye-catching interior design.

Fustok has enlisted his sister’s creative firm, Tala Fustok Studio (TFS), to design the spa which will only accommodate 12 people to guarantee an intimate and calm experience.

TFS says it has conceptualised the spa as a “halcyon haven which aligns with The Mandrake’s otherworldly and ethereal aesthetic". The studio’s design for the spa will continue the hotel’s playful approach, balancing light and dark.

Named Damu, after the ancient Sumerian god of healing, rebirth and medicinal plants, the spa will embody themes of transformation and renewal.

Balneotherapy experiencesIn addition to the Wavess Wellness Pool, Damu's facilities will include thermal and wet experience areas, treatment rooms and relaxation spaces.

One of the spa’s highlights will be its candlelit Mud Rasul, featuring micro-cement walls sculpted into rugged, rock-like surfaces illuminated by recessed and backlit lighting. Here, couples will be able to partake in the Damu Ritual – an immersive balneotherapy experience that includes a steamroom, experiential shower and dual rain showers.

Guests will use various muds, algae and salt scrubs, each designed for specific body areas. The muds, sourced from the Austrian Alps, will be able to be enhanced with ethnobotanical extracts selected by each guest for a personalised experience.

For further relaxation, the Tranquillity Room, designed by landscape architect Bas Smets – creator of The Mandrake’s iconic hanging gardens – will feature suspended greenery and skylights to reflect the hotel’s botanical focus.

Damu will offer a range of non-invasive aesthetic treatments including Derma-pen microneedling, collagen stimulation therapy (CST) and LED phototherapy.

Fustok, hotel founder and owner, comments: “I’m delighted we’re finally opening our Damu spa. The feeling guests will leave with will be euphoric and the addition of the spa will extend our existing creative ethos and core holistic values.

“There are many hotel spas, but The Mandrake always strives for innovation and creativity, and I believe Damu will deliver just that.”