At Hong Kong speakeasy The Diplomat, a designer created a bar within a bar
Littleurbanmountain design principal, Bong Yeung, took inspiration from some of London’s coolest venues to create a secret space within the stylish watering hole
Interpretation
“The brief was to design a speakeasy pub. The clients wanted a bar within a bar – a front bar and a back bar. They wanted the bars to have different styles and because it’s a gastropub the bars needed to link to the same kitchen.
“We’re not showing the back bar because the client wants to keep it exclusive. We wanted the front bar to be welcoming, that’s why the colour tone is brown leather, brass and timber. We also wanted to highlight the bar by having an arched feature wall in brass at the back. For the wallpaper, we selected a fabric type to give some texture to the room. All the materials are quite matt.
“The link with the back bar is a corridor with a lot of mirrors – we call it a vanity corridor – that hides the secret entrance. We wanted to give some order to the space with feature lights on one side of the wall. The other side was kept blank because one of the clients wanted to put his artwork there, like a gallery space.”
Challenges
“Each client had a different style. We needed to tie different ideas together while making it consistent. We used brass as a base to create a material narrative. Even though all the spaces are different, this material ties up the whole thing.