You love the Blue Bar in London’s Berkeley Hotel, just like Madge does, right? Every time you’re in town, you make a bee-line for this swish and stylish boite, a favorite celebrity hangout, and kick back a few new cocktails while taking in the beauty of the Art Deco haven, a soothing periwinkle blue cocoon.
The design by David Collins Studio, combining classical details that reference Sir Edwin Lutyens–often regarded as England’s greatest architect–with contemporary elements, was instrumental in fueling the destination bar trend when it opened in 2000.
Now you can see what the Blue Bar might look like in your own home—seriously! The design geniuses behind the Bar recreated the look for the Kips’s Bay Showhouse, and what a way to make an entrance soar!
Here The Blue Bar, serving as design catalyst, was reinterpreted for a private home Simon Rawlings, creative director of David Collins Studio, gave the entrance hall a sense of grandeur and refined ease with playful touches that lighten the formality of the space. A good deal of that was achieved through the unexpected use of rich color and materials—a trademark of the studio—including a new interpretation of the Lutyens Blue panelling by Farrow & Ball, the striped monochrome stone floor, and the David Collins Studio for Baker bespoke hand‐screened Chiyogami wallpaper, created exclusively for the Show House in lapis, claret and gold.
Hallways, stairways and landings, like entrances, are often the stepchildren of home decor. But Kati Curtis knows how to make the most of these sometimes forgotten spaces and turns them into bold design statements. To rev up this landing/entrance, also for the Show House, Curtis chose a DeGournay patterned wall covering,
and statement-making furniture. “Incorporating Anglo-Indian elements let us contrast the very traditional against the very contemporary,” she says.
