CLUB COLOMBIA- CAFE/RESTAURANT 118 Queen street, Melbourne
Anna's latest commercial interior design project was 'Club Colombia'; a Columbian style cafe in the Melbourne CBD. Owner and restauranteur Diego, originally from Medellin Colombia, wanted to create a home-away-from-home for local Columbians in Melbourne, and to offer an immersive Columbian experience for non-Columbian guests. Diego's brief for us was to create an authentic Columbian setting, full of bright colours to express Columbian cheerfulness, and in which every detail of the design had a story based in Columbian culture and history.
Our major inspirations came from the famous colonial towns of Jardin, Salento and Guatape in Columbia, in which the architecture remains untouched since the 1800s and the brightly coloured wall panels and doors have made the towns huge tourist attractions.
We created a colour palette based on the colours commonly used in these towns, and incorporated the doors and wall panel design throughout the cafe. We commissioned a Columbian mural artist to create a mural inspired by the working women and mothers of Columbia, and all the art work you see on the walls are by Columbian artists, or pictures of famous Columbians. Above the counter you'll see Columbian beer crates used as shelving, charming hanging wooden signs written in Spanish, and Columbian sombrero vueltiao hats adorning the walls.
This was an incredibly fun and rewarding project and Diego was delighted with the end result. Come and visit. They say the coffee is good too. :o)
KASHMIR COCKTAIL LOUNGE San Jose, Costa Rica
Kashmir Cocktail Lounge was designed and built as part of TV Series 'No Way San Jose' (ABC, 2009), produced by Anna and her brother Joe in 2007. The concept for the bar/restaurant was to create an immersive and atmospheric space, incorporating a fusion of elegant international design styles pertaining to different countries/time periods. They created a Japanese-inspired room, a Moroccan-inspired room, an Art Deco-inspired lounge area, an Egyptian-inspired bar and and an Atlantis-inspired dance floor area. The 6-part documentary series followed the siblings journey from arriving in Costa Rica, searching for the perfect location for the bar, building it from scratch and running it as a business. 'No Way San Jose' was screened on ABC in Australia in 2009, 2010 and 2011. If you're interested, you can watch the teaser below.