'Glamour and elegance' at Living Room Liverpool

25th August 2010, 11:25am

The Living Room's 13 restaurant and bars across the UK have been given a striking new look as the brand refurbished its sites in a move to position itself above its rivals on the high street. We find out how designer Vinny Smith injected 'glamour and elegance' back into the Liverpool establishment.

The new look across the board has been designed to retain The Living Room's "classic elegance" while bringing it up to date by introducing a lighter, brighter feel featuring "the latest designer trends".

Smith believes he has achieved just that. He had three main aims which were to inject some much needed glamour and elegance back into the Living room, whose 'colonial' look had become dated, to continue to enhance the living rooms long standing reputation for quality finishes & a quality experience, and wanted the foundation of the design to have its roots in Liverpool.

"So the first place I started was with old Cunard Ships," explains Smith "which were registered in Liverpool- Aquitania, Olympic, Brittanic, Titanic etc.

"I wanted to use a lot of the ethos, finishes and colour palette from the art deco period: black, chrome white, peacock blue, use of metallics – gold brushed nickel, use of glosses/lacquers and embracing modern materials.

"Then re-interpret them in a very modern idiom, so not as to create a pastiche, but something that is very 2010, but still has a classic feel. The colour palette and finishes run all the way through restaurant and two clubs, but twisted in very different ways."

Smith gives a breakdown of the different areas in the Living Room and its unique features:

Restaurant & bar - restaurants and hotels in Miami, New York and Paris. The interiors of the Cunard ships that sailed from Liverpool – "golden age of luxury cruising" – especially RMS Aquitania, which was known as the 'ship beautiful', BIBA department store from the late 60's, early 70's. Gucci Fashion House/Tom Ford – for the quality gold and marble finishes in their shops and displays – luxury experience.

Mosquito club (a high tempo late bar and club) – some influence from the Korova Milk Bar from the film "A clockwork orange" – sharp colour contrasts, but using peacock blue and champagne colour. Futuristic lighting (we are the first bar in the UK to use these light fittings from Italy) wall and bar finishes using glossy rubber and plastics.

Vampire (a basement VIP suite within the private members' bar) – deep, 'sexy speakeasy' intimate late night cocktail lounge - using deep gold textured papers, reds and black. Champagne tables.

For Smith, other key and unique features of the venture are its "stunning backbar made from polished Kashmiri gold granite, the very sexy lighting from Italy and its cool vampire imagery".

So how do you approach your projects? I asked. "I tend to have a simple core idea in my head as a starting premise – this one was the Cunard ships – it can sometimes be something as simple as just a colour or a wallpaper, or maybe something more obscure like trying to capture the detail or vibe of a bar or a stage set that I've seen in a film.

"I do some picture research into finishes and details, add different ideas and layers on to build up the complete picture. Then make sure that when actually doing the scheme, I'm sticking to my initial premise."

Looking ahead, Smith is currently working on Living Room Chester which will launch shortly.

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