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Chunky wooden partitions and distinctive lighting fixtures feature in a Japanese restaurant in Denver designed by Roth Sheppard Architects to offer “flashes of unanticipated excitement”. More
Design practice Mizzi Studio paired pink terrazzo with emerald-green velvet and timber to form the bold interior of restaurant Barbajean in Malta.Serving a menu of modern Meditteranean dishes, Barbajean occupies a prominent corner property in the village of Dingli.
The quiet village sits at the highest point of Malta, and has uninterrupted views out across the ocean towards the uninhabited isle of Filfla.
Barbajean has a pink and green facade
Mizzi Studio’s founder, Jonathan Mizzi – who is from Malta – designed the restaurant so that it pays tribute to Dingli and its scenic landscape, but also “injects [the village] with new life”.
“Working within the village’s particular urban fabric was a key inspiration for us,” said Mizzi.”We wanted to create a restaurant that would stand at the core of a quintessential Maltese village experience.”
Three arches punctuate the restaurant’s terrazzo-lined bar
The baby-pink facade of Barbajean has been made to include architraves and coloured doors– two elements that Mizzi says can be seen on the exterior of a typical Maltese home.
Emerald-green timber doors have been built into the facade’s trio square openings. Each opening is surrounded by a chunky pink-terrazzo architrave, created by Maltese surface manufacturer Halmann Vella.
Malta-themed artwork has been mounted on Barbajean’s walls
The pink and green colour scheme continues inside the restaurant. Rose-coloured terrazzo lines the wall behind the drinks bar, which has been punctuated with three arched niches.
Liquor bottles and glassware are displayed inside the niches, illuminated by neon-pink strip lights that have been installed overhead.
Rosy terrazzo has also been used to craft the surfacetop of the bar counter, the base of which is made from fluted timber that’s been stained green. Just in front is a row of pink high chairs with tubular brass frames.
Dining chairs are accompanied by pink-terrazzo tables
A lengthy seating banquette upholstered in emerald velvet winds its way around the opposite side of the room, accompanied by pink terrazzo tables inlaid with flecks of Guatemala Verde marble.
Directly above are a series of prints by Maltese illustrator Ed Dingli, which depict quotidian scenes of life in the village.
Mizzi Studio completes stingray cafe alongside the Serpentine
In between the prints are custom-made light fixtures designed by Mizzi Studio, which feature curling brass stems and spherical bulbs.
Surfaces in this area of the restaurant are painted a pale mint shade, but another dining nook that lies towards the rear of the plan has been given a cosier feel with dark-green walls and wooden floorboards.
Towards the back of the restaurant is another dining nook
Mizzi Studio was established in 2011 and has offices in both London and Valletta, the capital of Malta. Barbajean isn’t the only hospitality space that the studio has designed – last year it completed works on The Serpentine Coffee House in London’s Hyde Park.
The venue boasts glass walls and a gold, undulating roof that’s meant to resemble the shape of a stingray.
Photography is by Brian Grech.
Project credits:
Stonework: Halman VellaBrass fabrication: Anvil and ForgeJoinery and upholstery: Construct FurnitureCustom print artwork: Ed DingliBranding: Steves and Co
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The TV show Mad Men informed the retro feel of this bar in Guangzhou, China, which designer Vinki Li has finished with wood-panelled walls, marble floors and plush mid-century furniture.Vinki Li – who is based in Hong Kong – had been told to make the interiors of Out Of Office unlike any other bar in Guangzhou, so she looked to foreign films and television shows for aesthetic inspiration.
Her main point of reference ended up being Mad Men – a TV series which follows the life and times of Don Draper, a creative director working at an advertising agency on New York’s Madison Avenue during the 1960s.
The bar is entered via a lobby that looks like a secretary’s office
Not only is Li a fan of the show, but she liked that its 1960s setting would give her the opportunity to showcase mid-century furnishings inside Out Of Office.
“I have always been a big fan of mid-century architecture and designs, I considered it very timeless, well-designed…it still feels fresh today,” she told Dezeen.
A typewriter and old-school telephone top the desk in the lobby
Li named the bar after season one, episode 13 of Mad Men, in which protagonist Draper leaves the office for the evening and remaining staff members throw a revelrous, alcohol-fuelled party in anticipation of presidential election results.
“I wanted to create a similar atmosphere when guests come to unwind after working during the day, a feeling of the boss not being here,” added Li.
The main bar features wood-lined walls and marble floors
Guests enter Out Of Office via a grey tiled lobby that’s been styled to resemble a secretary’s office, complete with shuttered window blinds.
At the centre of the space is a glass-topped desk scattered with paraphernalia that would have appeared in workplaces of the 1960s, such as a typewriter and a rotary dial telephone.
The desk backs onto a tall shelving unit featuring artsy ornaments, leather-bound books and a globe. In the corner of the lobby there’s also a coat rack, off which a suit jacket, tie and fedora hat have been hung.
Vintage advertisements have been mounted on the walls
A door leads through to the main bar, where Li has used a palette of rich, dark materials that she felt evoked the “machismo of executive boardrooms”.
Retro Helsinki bar takes its design cues from 60s and 70s disco music
While the floor boasts a mix of murky-green Kesariyaji marble and white Statuario marble, walls have been lined with cherry wood.
Vintage advertisements have been mounted as decoration.
High-gloss steel and velvet was used to make the drinks counter
The base of the drinks counter is crafted from high-gloss stainless steel and inlaid with strips of caramel-coloured velvet. In front runs a row of stool seats upholstered in chocolate-brown leather.
Alternatively, guests can choose to sit in one of the heavy mid-century armchairs that have been placed at the centre of the bar.
Seating has been arranged in desk-style set ups
Extra clusters of seating run down the side of the room and are hidden by walnut and brass partitions – much like how desk cubicles were screened-off in 1960s offices.
A select few are able to enjoy their drinks in Out Of Office’s VIP room. It boasts deep-red sofas and a gridded cabinet that displays special whiskies inside illuminated box shelves.
Out Of Office includes a VIP room for select guests
The world of television and film offers a wealth of inspiration to designers and architects.
Earlier this year, Spanish studio Masquespacio created a co-working space in Valencia that draws on a scene from the 1960s film Playtime. British architect Adam Richards also modelled the layout of his home in Petworth, England around the story of post-apocalyptic flick Stalker.
Photography is by Hoshing Mok.
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The Flow of Ecstatic is a bar in Dongguan, China, designed by Daosheng Design with an all-grey interior featuring a swooping ceiling sculpture of bamboo.Located in the city’s business district, the bar counter is topped by stainless steel, the walls are covered in textured grey silk and the floors are tiled in a matching grey.
Top: the stainless steel bar counter. Above: swooping bamboo decoration
A looping bamboo sculpture is suspended from the ceiling. Daosheng Design said this is intended to evoke the brushstrokes of traditional Chinese calligraphy and the movements of the dragon dance.
This dance is performed on festive occasions and involves a team of dancers moving in synchronicity under a colourful silk dragon costume.
The serpentine bamboo shape is designed to be evocative of this fluid and dynamic performance.
A sculpture perches on the bar
Daosheng Design said the studio deliberately designed the bar to encourage patrons to decompress from their hectic urban lifestyles.
“Life and entertainment should be two sides,” said the designers.
“However, in the era of rapid development, life sped by, and modern people hurried to catch up, and it was difficult to slow down and enjoy life.”
Different seating areas occupy corners of the bar
Different seating areas invite different forms of leisure activity, such as high brass-backed stools at the bar for sampling drinks or tables with banquettes for dining.
Groupings of triangular stools cluster around low tables for casual drinks with friends.
Grey fabric covers the walls
All of the furniture and furnishings are realised in shades of grey. Figurative sculptures are dotted around the room, including one that is perched on the edge of the bar.
Atelier XY covers cocktail bar in Shanghai with over 1,000 insects
The Flow of Ecstatic has been shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 in the bar interior category, alongside a bar decorated with insects trapped in amber and a bar in London decorated with a mural of female faces.
Photography is by Jack Qin.
Project credits:
Interiors: Daosheng DesignLead designer: YongMing HeParticipating designers: Daosheng Design TeamClient: Excellence Real Estate
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Preserved tarantulas and beetles decorate the shadowy rooms inside this bar in Shanghai, China designed by local studio Atelier XY.Atelier XY designed the bar, which is called J Boroski, to reflect its owners’ interest in insects.
It’s located in Shanghai French Concession – a region of the city that was occupied and governed by the French state from 1849 up until 1943. Over the last few decades the area has been redeveloped, and it’s now host to a number of eateries, boutiques and quaint music venues.
Top image: beetles cover the surfaces of the bar. Above: a glass-brick wall runs down the back of the room
To enter the bar, visitors walk through an assuming door and up through a dark stairwell.
“It acts as a transition between the noisy exterior and the quiet interior. Once the reception is reached, the unique character of this place slowly reveals itself,” explained the studio.
Behind the partition are dimly lit lounge areas
The main bar area inside is dominated by a 12-metre-long counter where up to eight mixologists can stand and rustle up cocktail orders.
Amber-hued lights illuminate drink bottles on display, fostering a sense of warmth.
Office AIO’s Bar Lotus in Shanghai turns from daytime cafe into evening cocktail bar
A gridded teak-wood framework covers the wall directly behind the counter and extends up to cover half the bar’s ceiling. Every square opening in the grid is centred by a beetle – in total there are 1,254.
Dark leather furniture features throughout the bar
Along the rear of the bar is a glass brick wall, through the centre of which runs a series of see-through blocks that contain 42 preserved Thai Black tarantulas.
It has also been inbuilt with a couple of black-iron drawers – when pulled out, further taxidermy insect specimens are revealed. These can also double-up as small ledges where standing visitors in the bar can rest their drinks.
Preserved spiders are set inside the glass-brick wall
The wall separates the bar from a couple of dim lounge areas dressed with comfy armchairs upholstered in dark, umber-coloured leather.
A small amount of light is offered by a handful of tealight candles in glass tumblers.
The bar includes a lab-style space where guests can watch cocktails being made
There is also what the studio describes as a “chamber room”, which lies behind a heavy glass-brick door. Inside there’s a laboratory-style space where visitors will be invited to watch mixologists experiment with making drinks, using extravagant tools like centrifuges or rotary distillation machines.
The dark colour palette of the bar seeps through into the bathroom, which is completely clad in glazed, oxblood-coloured tiles. It’s centred by a lengthy wooden sink.
Oxblood-coloured tiles cover the bar’s bathroom
Atelier XY is based in Shanghai and was established in 2018 by Qi Xiaofeng and Wang Yuyang.
Its J. Boroski project is shortlisted in the bar interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards. It will go up against spaces such as The Berkeley Bar & Terrace by Bryan O’Sullivan Studio, which features ornate plasterwork friezes, walnut wall panelling and a blush-pink snug where guests can retire with their drinks.
Photography is courtesy of Schran Images and Hu Yanyun.
Project credits:
Design: Atelier XYTeam: Qi Xiaofeng, Wang Yuyang, Chen XiProduct design: Notion Common, Atelier XYLighting: Zenko lighting design
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Juniper berry-blue furniture sits against blackened walls inside this cosy bar, laboratory and store that design studio YSG has created in Sydney for gin brand Four Pillars. Four Pillars Laboratory occupies a two-storey corner building in Sydney’s buzzing Surry Hills neighbourhood. It was originally built in 1939 as premises for a tea company, but has
The post Four Pillars Laboratory in Sydney is a “sanctuary” for gin enthusiasts appeared first on Dezeen. More
A series of mirrored panels obscure the cocktail bar that lies inside this shop-cum-cafe in Chengdu, China created by design studio Office AIO.The shop, which is unusually called O, was named by its owner and the co-founder of Office AIO, Tim Kwan.
Taking the first letter from the word “object”, Kwan and the shop owner felt that O was the “perfect shape representing eternity – it has no beginning nor end, no direction nor a right way round”.
The looping shape of the letter O also nods to the shifting function of the 68-square-metre shop: by day it’s a cafe that sells and showcases a curated selection of lifestyle items and designer furnishings, while at night it turns into a bar.
Down one side of the shop runs a lengthy sandstone counter where the cafe’s coffee machine is kept. Just in front is a long wooden table where the barista can prepare drink orders.
The base of the counter has been in-built with a fireplace, which can be switched on as night falls to evoke a cosier mood within the store.
On the other side of the store is a silver-metal shelf where products are displayed and a row of fold-down seats upholstered in tan leather.
Chengdu cafe features interiors inspired by Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel
The rear of the store appears to be lined with mirrored panels, but these can be drawn back to reveal the night-time drinks bar. Liquor bottles line the inner side of the panels.
Surfaces throughout the rest of shop O have otherwise been kept simple. A patchy band of exposed concrete runs around the lower half of the walls, but off-white paint has been applied to the upper half.
Interest is added by a handful of potted plants and a sequence of arched screens that have been suspended just beneath the ceiling.
The last screen has been fitted with an LED strip light that can be adjusted to imbue the space with different colours.
“[The screens] bring a sense of character to the store without occupying any footprint,” explained the studio.
“We hope that this space will encourage quality ideas, objects, and people to interact and exchange, and ultimately reach a wholesome experience that is objectively desirable,” it concluded.
O by Office AIO is longlisted in the small retail interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
It isn’t the first day-to-night venue that the studio has created – two years ago it completed Bar Lotus in Shanghai, which boasts emerald-coloured walls and rippling rose-gold ceilings. The project won the restaurant and bar interior category of the 2019 Dezeen Awards, when judges commended its mix of contemporary and traditional references.
Photography is courtesy of WEN Studio.
Project credits:
Designed by: Tim Kwan/Office AIOConstruction: Sichuan ChuFeng Architectural Decoration
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A tangle of red neon tubes hangs at the centre of Kink restaurant and bar in Berlin, which has been designed by owners Oliver Mansaray and Daniel Scheppan. Kink was created by Mansaray and Scheppan to blend contemporary art and gastronomy “with a touch of nonsense”. It occupies a restored industrial building in Pfefferberg, a […] More
