Project: Gillray’s Steakhouse
Client: Marriott Hotels
Designer: Blacksheep
There’s something quintessentially English about a buttoned Chesterfield sofa, and that’s exactly what design consultancy Blacksheep wanted for the seating at Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar in the five-star Marriott Hotel in the former County Hall, by the London Eye and the Thames.

But it’s added a twist – the Chesterfield for Gillray’s is 9m-long and bright yellow. Also playing the patriot card are tabletops in English oak and Sheffield silverware, while pushing the opulence factor is a gold-lacquered drinks station and bespoke chandeliers.

The 70-cover restaurant is meant to transport diners back to the days of grand London hotels and turn-of-the-century gentlemen’s clubs.

The place is named after James Gillray, a popular caricaturist famous in the 18th century for his etched political and social satires of ‘The Mad King’ George III and the excesses of his son, the Prince Regent, and examples of Gillray’s caricatures are displayed on the oak panelled walls of this former local government headquarters.

Tim Mutton, managing director of Blacksheep says: ‘The heritage of the building, overlooking the most iconic areas of London, provided the inspiration for the quintessential English restaurant and was the underpinning design theme that set the tone of the space.’

Project: Evolution Club
Client: Undisclosed
Designer: Sebastian Barlica

Floating in a basement in the historical centre of Bucharest is this light green, highly organic looking bar, very much at odds with the 18th-century neo-gothic building it inhabits.

Called the Evolution Club, it has been designed by Romanian designer Sebastian Barlica, who was charged by the client with making the most of the barrel-vaulted brick basement (formerly a storage area) beneath a new Mediterranean restaurant.

Barlica used thermo-molded Hi-Macs to create the flowing shape of the 21m-long bar, which forms the main focus of the long, narrow room. There’s enough space for two barmen and a DJ, along with all required equipment. The bar is cantilevered from the wall at one end and has an internal metal frame to make this possible.

Elsewhere in the club, Barlica has let his imagination run riot with a chandelier made from garden hoses… making it perhaps the perfect watering hole?