Welcome to The Destruction Company -- where wealthy youngsters pay big bucks to use weapons and tools to destroy objects such as computers and pianos.
The members-only club offers its rich clients the unique chance to smash anything they desire with any weapons they choose.
Members can pick from a list of objects to smash -- including furniture, televisions, guitars, fax machines, motorcycles, lap tops and pottery.
But the credit-crunch defying members can also request a particular item they want to destroy -- including cars and pianos -- which they pay to have brought in.
They are then given a choice of weapon including baseball bats, golf clubs, battle axes, sledgehammers, lump hammers, swords, and chainsaws.
The members then visit the club's warehouse and roof top space to don protective clothing and destroy the object bit by bit.
Based at a secret location in New Jersey the club has just opened and its membership is already swelling - mostly with young heirs and heiresses and wealthy bankers.
The club says 40 per cent of the membership are female -- proving that women are also keen to let off stress with a weapon and inanimate object.
A spokesman for the club said: 'Our message to our members is very clear: "It is okay to destroy things". This is not about violence, but the art of destruction.
'Many of our clients are high earning city workers. A lot of the inquiries we get by email have addresses ending with names such as Morgan Stanley.
'People can only join if an existing member invites them and we have them in for a session, to get to know them before deciding whether they can become a member.
'We have had some odd requests -- someone wants to smash a Ferrari and one lady destroyed all her ex husband's suits.
'One common theme is technology such as computers, lap tops and iPads - there seems to be a desire out there to smash them.'
The Destruction Company is now open in New Jersey and is hoping to expand its business to Los Angeles and London.
Members pay an undisclosed annual fee to enjoy regular smashing sessions and they also pay the cost of what they destroy each time.
Inside the warehouse is an array of weapons, a 'menu' of items to smash, and hangers full of protective clothing from leather boots to hockey pads.
Members pick what they want to destroy which is then brought into the open space - before they select a weapon and begin smashing it apart.
The smashing -- either individually or in group sessions -- is filmed on camera so members can visit a control room and watch back footage of themselves in action.
All members sign a legal waiver and as in the film 'Fight Club' there are rules: no firearms can be used, no living things or paperwork can be destroyed, and no alcohol or drugs.
Members pay an annual fee plus the cost of what is destroyed during each session -- with prices ranging from $10 (set of plates), baby grand piano ($2,000), to cars costing over $100,000.
The spokesman said: 'I think people are using the club for different reasons. Some want to let off steam, some want to shed executive stress.
'Some people want a bit of revenge on the technology that rules their lives and some think it's just a great work out. 'To others it has a real primeval appeal. We are not endorsing violence, we are giving people the chance to feel free. Sometimes it really is okay to destroy things.'
© Daily Mail, London |
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