8 Decorating Ideas to Borrow From Beautiful Auckland Restaurants
Auckland has some pretty great restaurant fit-outs these days – so why not steal some of their ideas for your home?
Restaurants, at their core, are all about theatre; why else would you go? It’s not the fundamental act of eating; you can do this at home, or you can do this in a much cheaper place than a restaurant. But you visit a restaurant for the experience of it all – the smells, the low light, the waiters moving swiftly around the room.
In recent years, some very beautiful restaurants have opened in Auckland: some of them cost a lot of money to fit out, but not all of them did. All of them are designed to make you feel good, though. So why not try it at home?
Photographs by David Straight
In recent years, some very beautiful restaurants have opened in Auckland: some of them cost a lot of money to fit out, but not all of them did. All of them are designed to make you feel good, though. So why not try it at home?
Photographs by David Straight
There’s a beautiful feel to it; the key is in the materials. There’s a layering of beige chairs, cane screens and hand-made ceramics imported from an artisan potter in Chiang Mai. Tones of pinky-beige pile up through the restaurant in a masterful exercise in control and repetition. It’s genius: I’d live here in a heartbeat.
2. Go maximal
Across town at Woodpecker Hill, meanwhile, Paul Izzard designed an equally layered experience at a restaurant serving – yes – Thai-barbecue fusion. It’s part country club (tartan cushions, sheepskin covers), part Balinese resort (dark timber and a terracotta tile floor).
Across town at Woodpecker Hill, meanwhile, Paul Izzard designed an equally layered experience at a restaurant serving – yes – Thai-barbecue fusion. It’s part country club (tartan cushions, sheepskin covers), part Balinese resort (dark timber and a terracotta tile floor).
3. Make it soft
Odettes opened in a former bus mechanics’ workshop at City Works Depot, itself a 1960s modernist icon. It could have been so industrial; fortunately, co-owner Clare van den Berg went against the industrial light fitting and metal chairs trend, building an elegant restaurant of timber and blue fabric, as well as beautiful fish-tail tiles and blonde wooden furniture. It’s restrained and yet warm – and it fits the building beautifully.
Odettes opened in a former bus mechanics’ workshop at City Works Depot, itself a 1960s modernist icon. It could have been so industrial; fortunately, co-owner Clare van den Berg went against the industrial light fitting and metal chairs trend, building an elegant restaurant of timber and blue fabric, as well as beautiful fish-tail tiles and blonde wooden furniture. It’s restrained and yet warm – and it fits the building beautifully.
There are surprising touches throughout the place – including this beautiful teal wall. The hand-blown light fittings are Parison by Resident, designed by Nat Cheshire, and each one is subtly different.
4. Keep it simple
When two young likely lads – Josh Helm and chef Tom Hishon – opened Orphans Kitchen on Ponsonby Road, it was with a minimal budget in an existing restaurant, all dark-red panelled walls. They repurposed as much of the old place as they could, buying macrocarpa-topped tables and painting the sarking in pastel shades.
When two young likely lads – Josh Helm and chef Tom Hishon – opened Orphans Kitchen on Ponsonby Road, it was with a minimal budget in an existing restaurant, all dark-red panelled walls. They repurposed as much of the old place as they could, buying macrocarpa-topped tables and painting the sarking in pastel shades.
6. Make it masculine
Rockefeller is one of my favourite new joints because it keeps everything so simple: it’s a long, narrow insertion into the ground floor of a heritage warehouse on a very busy road. There’s vintage champagne and oysters. What else do you need?
Rockefeller is one of my favourite new joints because it keeps everything so simple: it’s a long, narrow insertion into the ground floor of a heritage warehouse on a very busy road. There’s vintage champagne and oysters. What else do you need?
7. Make it tactile
At Ortolana, meanwhile, Cheshire and Tai designed a simple little restaurant in a tiny airy pavilion: brick contrasts with a marble floor and steel-framed windows. The long slab of timber that forms the central table is a beautiful touch – as are the generous linen cushions on the banquettes.
At Ortolana, meanwhile, Cheshire and Tai designed a simple little restaurant in a tiny airy pavilion: brick contrasts with a marble floor and steel-framed windows. The long slab of timber that forms the central table is a beautiful touch – as are the generous linen cushions on the banquettes.
8. Turn the lights right down
At Cassia – Sid Sahrawat’s modern Indian restaurant in a basement off an alley in downtown Auckland – there are concrete walls and concrete floors. It’s a bunker, in other words, but only in the best way. It’s also only barely lit, with hundreds of exposed bulbs turned down low, making it feel warm and atmospheric.
At Cassia – Sid Sahrawat’s modern Indian restaurant in a basement off an alley in downtown Auckland – there are concrete walls and concrete floors. It’s a bunker, in other words, but only in the best way. It’s also only barely lit, with hundreds of exposed bulbs turned down low, making it feel warm and atmospheric.
It has even darker corners: in out-of-the-way dining nooks, there are pools of light that spill down walls and across particular pieces of furniture.
TELL US
How do these spaces inspire you? Which ideas will you steal for your house? Tell us in the Comments below.
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8 Decorating Ideas to Borrow From These Sydney Hospitality Hotspots
TELL US
How do these spaces inspire you? Which ideas will you steal for your house? Tell us in the Comments below.
MORE
8 Decorating Ideas to Borrow From These Sydney Hospitality Hotspots
At the northern Thai restaurant Saan – which won best new restaurant and best fit-out at the Metro Restaurant of the Year Awards recently – Nat Cheshire and DJ Tai of Cheshire Architects played with the idea of an old faded family photograph. The restaurant invokes a sense of memory, creating a restaurant with layers of similar tones.