Restaurant and Bar Awards - Chinawhite

We've entered a couple of our projects into the Restaurant and Bar Awards, Chinawhite and Boujis.

Into Lighting have also submitted Chinawhite for the lighting scheme. Most projects are collaborative, we worked with Darren Orrow and Anthony Stead at Into to develop our initial lighting ideas into a working proposition.  Their expertise assisted in the rapid resolution of lighting details to get the effects we were after. We worked with them on Boujis as well - Their photos really emphasise the lighting which is a key part of any club venue. Our initial 3d model image for comparison below.

A lot of the entries rely heavily on products and furniture to create the character of the space, we approach our interiors very differently. Whilst we recognise the importance of chairs, tables etc. we also try to develop the more architectural elements (where we can) based on ideas which explore selected thematics for the space. The ceiling to the restaurant at Chinawhite (top pic) was conceived initially as rain clouds.

This was part of a more general watery thematic (there's a lot of water in Tropical Asia) which ran down the stairs, via the loos to the bar, where the ceiling was initially conceived as an inverted representation of the Vietnamese Hoa Dang festival.

The staircase water feature got the chop, as did the reflective glass ceiling over the top of the bar (cost and time implications).

We also worked with Chinese artist Nigel Szeto, using his paintings to make large format prints to the restaurant walls, main space banquettes and also the main space back drop.

We commissioned a Hong Kong caligrapher to transcribe a traditional chinese drinking poem which we then projected onto the bar surface from within. The image of the bar was inspired by a scene from Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book where writing is projected onto architectural surfaces. It was also linked to the watery ideas mentioned above, water becomes reflective glass, liquid becomes solid geometric form and light. Good place for drink.

General sketches of the main space seating

We like to think of our club projects as great pop songs. They are not conceived as high art but are carefully crafted in their conception, composition and content - intentionally accessible and importantly fun.

Winners will be announced in June.