Project Team

design: Hecker Guthrie

Suppliers

lighting: Meizai, Luke Furniture
furniture:
Meizai

 

Photos: Shannon McGrath

The original brief was to create a Chinese wine and tapas bar that would also lend itself to functions. The bar was to be an extension of the original Oriental Tea house (done by others on the ground level) and evoke a sense of Old Shanghai in terms of decor and finishes. Hecker Guthrie didn’t suspect China was particularly well known for its wines – but knew there was a strong link to boutique beers – strengthened by the beauty of the vintage beer graphics they were able to source.

This idea took hold with their client and the bar now stocks over 50 Asian beers. Their colourful and individual packaging became a styling tool and essentially artwork in their own right.

Hecker Guthrie endeavoured to evoke an Old Shanghai sensibility with this project. From the moment you walk up the stairs you encounter a flickering and buzzing neon sign which absolutely evokes a sense of China town! The palette is grounded by dark rustic timbers and concrete flooring and overlaid with a bold colour palette drawn from the series of vintage Chinese beer posters pixelated to become a vibrant treatment to the windows within the space. The collected series of vintage Chinese beer posters have been abstracted and printed onto fabric for window coverings. The light dappling through the windows during the day creates a halo around the beer focused graphic. A fun play on a shrine / homage to ‘good old fashioned beer drinking’!

This project was less about structural changes and more about the whimsy and personality injected via the loose furniture, lamps, rugs and styling items.

Hecker Guthrie struck gold when we found the miniature Chairman Mao figurines paying homage to the ‘People’s Republic of … Beer’.

The interior has a slight vintage Old Shanghai sensibility with dark rustic timbers and flooring and accents of Chinese greenery and blue and white porcelain. Key loose furniture items and styling elements create a contemporary versus industrial feel.

The bar stocks over 50 Asian beers and the packaging on each bottle, can and box is graphically amazing! The colours and illustrations used are so much fun and are an individual piece of artwork. Hecker Guthrie really wanted to display all of these beers in pole position.. stacked proudly on shelves behind the bar.

The main challenge of this space was to create a bar interior with a limited budget.

“This, in all honesty, was one of the smallest budgets we have had to work with for a hospitality project,” commented Lucy Bock, of Hecker Guthire. “We did, however, welcome the challenge! Sometimes a smaller budget allows creativity to flow in areas you wouldn’t normally find yourself, resulting in a more whimsical interior. We really enjoyed this process.

To achieve our budget, simple joinery was installed, and the existing bar re-clad in stained timber and stone. A collection of furniture was chosen from local suppliers which was all in stock.”