Located on Wimbledon High Street, The Lawn Bistro is owned by restaurateur Akbar Ashurov and chef Ollie Couillaud, formerly of La Trompette. The clients brief was for designLSM to create an elegant, spacious and friendly dining environment. The site, formerly Lydon’s restaurant was dark with a heavy colour scheme. With the emphasis on opening up the interior – a large bar area towards the front of the restaurant was created.
A palette of warm grey with an accent colour of orange in the seat buttons, bar stool seat pads, feature chairs and on the stair runner has been applied. Commissioned artwork and blocks of Cole & Son wallpaper provide additional focus across the dining room, which seats 65 covers.
The basement, which was formerly redundant, now boasts an impressive wine display and tasting area featuring brightly coloured armchairs. The grey shop frontage reflects the clean, warm interior and introduction of canopies creates a high street presence.
The Hilton Olympia hotel was a large-scale project, made up of multiple phases. The brief was a complete refurbishment of the ground floor public reception areas, first floor bar and restaurant to create a flowing, relaxed space.
The initial phase saw the removal of the escalator, which had been the only way to approach the first floor bar. By replacing the escalator with a modern, glass staircase a greater visual impact has been created and the first floor bar is now a destination venue. The bar, which is distinctly visible from Kensington High Street, has an organic feel to it – a deliberate contrast to the orthogonal lines of the building.
designLSM restyled the restaurant interior applying a fresh colour palette, revamped the lighting and introduced a bespoke, display screen. New, decorative lighting was fitted and a private dining room area created.
Simon Spiteri, Architectural Director comments; “Not all structural changes were made at ground level due to a limited budget and timescale constraints. However, the overall brief has been answered and the end result is a distinctive and timeless piece of interior design which flows throughout the reception, bar and lounge areas.”
El Cantara, the Morrocan and Spanish restaurant located in Soho will launch a second site at Westfield, Stratford City today. Located in the Great Eastern Market the interior design consists of a Moorish delicatessen and a relaxed, friendly tapas bar.
The client brief for Karen Mitton, Senior Designer designLSM was to create an authentic interior in a quick turn-around. Traditional items have been sourced from both Spain and Morocco, they include very expensive Argan Oil and hand painted Spanish bar tiles.
The other completed units include Lacoste, Tortilla and The Real Greek.
designLSM Interiors Director, Tim Burford confirmed that a refurbishment of the existing bar using mainly vintage style lighting and furniture to give a ‘New York’ feel was taking place.
Reclaimed pine paneling, new zinc bar top, mild steel and Georgian wire back bar.
“Much as I’m a massive enthusiast of Sam’s Brasserie, I’ve always felt the bar could be more of a destination in it’s own right so I’m really excited about the new plans and can’t wait to see the new bar up and running.” Rick Stein
Introduction to three interior design projects undertaken by designLSM. The first is the award wining michelin star restaurant, Galvin La Chapelle, London with interview from Galvin Restaurant’s Patron, Sara Galvin. Following this is a short film of Goodman, Old Jewry, a popular steakhouse in City, London. Finally, the Quarter Bar & Lounge at the London Bridge Hotel is showcased with comment from the hotel’s General Manager, Nick Cowell.
designLSM recently completed the new “rhubarb” restaurant & bar at Heathrow’s Terminal Three.
rhubarb described the finish as fresh, contemporary and very stylish – just how they wanted it.
With reports from Big Hospitality, which confirm that Heston Blumenthal will be collaborating with Rhubarb Food design, the next chapter of Rhubarb’s development will be fascinating.
designLSM recently completed premium fashion retailer, Lacoste’s new European flagship outlet store.
INTO Lighting supplied new feature pendant lighting to the double height space and concealed lighting to the mid floor display units and perimeter display units.
Richard Potzesny, Retail Director, Lacoste UK contacted Steven Wragg, Senior Designer at designLSM to personally thank him for the time, creativity and hard work he put into the project. Richard comments: “The results are stunning, professional and contemporary. Our brief was for designLSM to develop the existing Lacoste Outlet concept and create an interior which sets itself apart from other typical outlet interiors within Bicester Village – this has completely been realised.”
In December 2010, Brighton based DesignLSM were commissioned to create an interior indicative of a traditional American bar-diner for the launch of The Red Dog Saloon in Hoxton Square. The space, which includes a ground floor restaurant accommodating 80 and basement bar for 100 will officially launch at the end of this month.
The client’s brief was to recreate the look and feel of a conventional Mid-Western saloon with the emphasis on tasty BBQ, which will be cooked on a genuine ‘smoke pit’. Tim Burford, Design Director took his inspiration from looking at Colorado diners, bars and the natural landscape.
The biggest challenge was not to over theme the interior, and instead subtly incorporate items strongly associated with the great Mid-West such as cow horns, moose-heads and natural timbers. The seating is a combination of booths and bar stools. Reclaimed materials such as pine, oak and brick predominate both levels. A large hardwood bar is located on the ground floor and a simple polished concrete bar in the basement.
