Venue #50

®

Complete Solutions

for your performance space.

The professional choice for contractors Jands is Australia’s leading supplier of technical equipment for the theatrical market. Our recent projects include the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, The Concourse Chatswood, Melbourne Theatre Company and Melbourne Recital Centre, Sydney Theatre Company, NIDA, and many public and private venues across Australia.

Jands has been consulting, designing, manufacturing and supplying audio, lighting and staging equipment to the Australian entertainment industry for the past 40 years. We are experienced, passionate and committed to our industry.

We pride ourselves in employing in-house Project Managers, Electrical and Structural Engineers, Technical Sales and Support Staff, Specialised Fabrication and Installation Teams, and Quality Seamstresses with hundreds of years experience between them.

Whether you’re a school building a new multi-purpose hall, a regional performing arts centre refitting your auditorium, or a consultant looking for theatre engineers to assist on a world class theatrical venue,

Best of all, with Jands you’re dealing direct with the factory: we build to purpose, your purpose, and all of our staging equipment is built to Australian Safety Standards, or obtained from the world leaders in theatrical equipment.

Jands can do it all.

For more info:

jands.com.au

info@jands.com.au

facebook.com/jandsptyltd

twitter.com/jandsptyltd

TOTAL DISPLAY

SOLUTIONS Bring images to life with the superior quality of Japanese design & engineering

Outdoor LED Screens

Whether it’s a small classroom or a giant sporting stadium, Mitsubishi Electric has the visual display solution to suit your needs.

With the freedom to choose from a large range of home or business projectors, commercial LCD monitors, Video Wall systems or large format Diamond Vision LED screens, the possibilities are only limited by your vision.

Video Wall Products

Installation Projectors

Proud partner of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image

VISUAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Mitsubishi Electric Australia Pty Ltd, 348 Victoria Rd Rydalmere NSW 2116 www.MitsubishiElectric.com.au ph: (02) 9684 7777 fax (02) 9684 7208

50 ISSUES OF ‘GETTING IT RIGHT’

W

elcome to our Restaurant Special. No need to wait to be seated: find a table to your liking, grab a chair, and pick something from the cocktail menu while you’re waiting.

We’ve had great fun putting together this issue. All around the country there’s a real vigour and optimism about the serving of high quality food. Certainly the market is as vibrant and as exciting as I’ve seen it in the 50-issue lifetime of venue.

That’s right, we’ve hit the big Five-Oh. Which affords me, I think, the indulgence of a certain amount of reflection.

We’ve spoken to some of the very best restaurateurs over our 50-issue life-time. I had to look it up, but Issue 1 hit the Australian market in October 2004, and in the intervening eight years we’ve profiled the likes of Paul Mathis, Neil Perry, Shannon Bennett, Andrew McConnell, and Luke Mangan who all fit that thoroughbred ‘restaurateur’ mould — amazing operators who have helped shape the Australian food landscape. I use the word ‘restaurateur’ advisedly because these men are all far more than great chefs, they understand that to succeed in this business you need to care as much about ‘the other stuff’ as you do the menu.

And it’s ‘the other stuff’ that’s been venue’s heartland since day one. Good design, great sound, fantastic lighting; the chairs, kitchen, carpet, signage, benchtops and flat screens — we’ve understood that operating a venue is undergirded by an unapologetically practical foundation of ‘getting things right’. And time and again, as we talk it over with the best restaurateurs of our day, we realise this is a view shared by the best in the business.

This issue encompasses everything from the broad acre fine dining of the van Haandel Group’s new Stokehouse Q to the decidedly more modest Flying Fish in The Star food court, and it’s evident that great design isn’t a luxury reserved for the well heeled operator, and good sound and lighting is well in the reach of those who care — and the best restaurateurs do… they care.

But in my experience, the most outstanding feature of those very best in the business, is their willingness to share the knowledge.

Not only to venue but to their staff, knowing full well that they’re developing future ‘competition’, as the best and brightest go on to launch their own ventures. I’ve found that there always seems to be a generosity there that’s no easily threatened.

Finally, a quick thanks to you our readers and our advertisers for your support over the last 50 issues. It’s been fun. And we hope you stick around for dessert and a coffee.

Christopher Holder Editorial Director Send Chris a 50th cheerio on chris@venuemag.com He doesn’t look a day over 40-and-a-bit.

Performa lic

s

Co

on

Pu b

e nc

ďƒź

R

m

i pli a nt S olut

SEPTEMBER

Nº50

Contents “We wanted people to salivate, to be like, ‘oh my god, I’ve never seen anything like this’.”

Alex Zabotto-Bentley — pg16

Pop-Up Heaven MasterChef Dining Bite Club

pg16 pg44

CONTACTS: Advertising Office: (02) 9986 1188 PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 Editorial Office: (03) 5331 4949 PO Box 295, Ballarat, VIC 3353 Editor Director: Christopher Holder (chris@venuemag.com)) Production Editor: Ailsa Brackley du Bois (ailsa@alchemedia.com.au) Publication Director: Stewart Woodhill (stewart@venuemag.com) Advertising Manager: Paul Cunningham (paul@venuemag.com) Publisher: Philip Spencer (philip@venuemag.com) Art Direction & Design: Dominic Carey (dominic@alchemedia.com.au) Additional Design: Leigh Ericksen (leigh@alchemedia.com.au) Circulation Manager: Jen Temm (subscriptions@alchemedia.com.au) Accounts: Jen Temm (accounts@alchemedia.com.au)

alchemedia publishing pty ltd (ABN: 34 074 431 628) PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 info@alchemedia.com.au All material in this magazine is copyright Š 2012 Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd. The title Venue is a registered Trademark. Apart from any fair dealing permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. The publishers believe all information supplied in this magazine to be correct at the time of publication. They are not in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. After investigation and to the best of our knowledge and belief, prices, addresses and phone numbers were up to date at the time of publication. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements appearing in this publication comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974. The responsibility is on the person, company or advertising agency submitting or directing the advertisement for publication. The publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, although every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy.

CONTENTS Master Chef Dining Trocadero

Stokehouse Q Chiswick The Apollo Flying Fish Middle Fish Conservatory RamenYa Senoritas Park Hyatt Restaurant Bite Club House Spring, Brisbane South Wharf Melbourne

pg16 pg20 pg22 pg28 pg30 pg36 pg39 pg40 pg41 pg42 pg43 pg44 pg48 pg52

Smooth Operator Music Connection Kit Sit Lit Commercial Edge Preferred Suppliers You Wish

pg11 pg12 pg70 pg72 pg74 pg76 pg78 pg82

Seven Seeds Interview 11 Inch Pizza Epicure Kitchen CafĂŠ Melt

pg58 pg64 pg66 pg68

Squillace Nicholas Architects

SYDNEY +61 2 8354 1300

MELBOURNE +61 3 9639 3777

Squillace Nicholas Architects

squillace.com.au

Audio Processing.

Redefined.

Smart Series.

The Smart Series uses a new pre-amplifier circuit and DSP bus architecture and is enhanced in processing capacity, processing speed and sound quality.

Users can select one or two DSP configuration solutions based on the audio processing need.

In addition, the Smart Series retains the clear and intuitive user control interface of the DAM Series.

For the function aspect, it adds an extra phone coupling line with two independent channels.

Its software supports the AEC (Acoustic Echo Cancellation) and ANC (Acoustic Noise Cancellation) functions.

The Smart Series uses a compact 1U structural design and retains the indicators for input/output signal, power, control signal and fault at its front panel.

The machine looks simple and elegant.

ETHERNET, RS232 and GPIO are available to set and control the device.

127 Merrindale Drive, Croydon Victoria, Australia, 3136 T: +61 (0)3 9761 5577 F: +61 (0)3 9761 5611

SMOOTH OPERATOR Rolling out better design Matt Mullins is a partner in Sand Hill Road hospitality group

W

e’re almost finished designing our next renovation — a double-height garden room at the rear of the Prahran Hotel. Obviously drunk or high or both when they conceived it, the guys at Techne Architects are planning on stacking massive concrete water pipes on top of each other nine metres high, filling the outside edge with glass, building booths on the inside, and making stairs and landings that let you walk up into each pipe, from where you can sip beers and eat burgers, looking down into the garden on the inside and the street on the outside, wondering why no-one ever thought of it before. That’s right, it’s never been done before. Anywhere in the world.

And guess what? There’s a reason it’s never been done before anywhere in the world. Its f**king expensive! Architecture that’s never been done before anywhere in the world tends to be very, very difficult. Cos until it’s been done a few hundred times, no one quite knows how it works.

But while our architects are busily trying to work out how to do it, and our builders are busily working out how much it’ll cost, and my partners are busily working out how we’re going to pay for it, I’m busily working out how to make the venue safe for our punters. For several years now, we’ve been working with Police, our managers, and other publicans to make our pubs as safe as possible.

One of the big things we’re working on is the design and layout of our venues.

When we started 13 years ago, hospitality design was all about ‘opening up’. We wanted big rooms, big bars, big gardens. We wanted to look from the front door to the back door without anything blocking our view. We wanted to see every chick in the joint — and make sure they could see us.

We wanted to stand in one large seething group in the middle of one large bar, and go right off.

Melbourne’s tight, pokey Victorian-era pubs were especially ripe for opening — we smashed into walls like they were piñatas. Then about five years ago we began to notice something: these large open spaces could be dangerous. They’d become mosh-pits. There was no modulation, no breakout, no intimacy, no way of separating groups and individuals. At the same time, we noticed punters increasingly attracted to smaller, more intimate spaces. And we started thinking maybe we can make safer spaces that are also more attractive, more popular and — by extension — more profitable.

We sat down recently with researchers from Turning Point, the peak drug and alcohol research

“(these ideas) make a better pub. They make us money. Its a nobrainer” body in Victoria, to discuss design that makes pubs safe. There’s a long list and it’s constantly evolving, but here are a few of the big ones:

GOODBYE BEER BARN We all remember the last time we were in a beer barn. It was probably the late ’90s in King Street or King’s Cross. Or it was last year anywhere in Central Queensland. Either way, the beer barn was big, open, had no furniture and pretty much just sold beer… maybe some Bundy.… and the occasional Illusion Shaker. And it was dangerous. The venues we design now look very different. We avoid large open spaces, breaking-up our rooms with screens, half-walls, large pendants, curtains, and furniture. Punters still like to see the whole of the venue, but they’re happy to have it revealed to them in small pieces. We still allow for long views, but they’re glimpses now. We make the view more dynamic by layering it with obstacles. We even create sightlines from level to level, giving context to each floor of the venue.

Overall, this tends to add intimacy to the venue and to a punter’s experience of it. People form small groups for more personal interaction, that break-up and reform as the night progresses.

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD We all know the theory about drinking on an empty stomach. I’ve always assumed it’s true — in my experience it is. But even if having food in your belly didn’t help you handle your booze, the act of eating certainly does. Groups of people taking time out of stand-up drinking to sit together and eat, make for a far safer pub. It slows down the trajectory of a night. Sitting, eating, talking can take the temperature down. We’ve found that this is true not only for the people actually eating. We’ve found that a group of people eating together not only moderates their own volume and behaviour, but that of the people around them, who are less likely to fire up when there’s a group

eating a metre away. So we’ve started building tables and booths right in amongst bar areas. We now serve food to every part of our venues — every seat, every bar, every bar table.

RAISING THE BAR People are attracted to bars — always have been, always will be. But large groups of people around a bar can encourage risky behaviour — pushing, yelling, arguing. We design our bars to be more efficient, allowing people to get in and away quicker. We limit the space in front of a bar to a few metres — enough for one or two people to wait, and for traffic to pass behind. Beyond that point we place furniture, screens and booths, so the crowd that inevitably gathers at the bar never grows too large, and is never far away from sitting groups and diners.

TAKE IT OUTSIDE There’s something about the great outdoors. Maybe it’s the fresh air. Maybe it’s the greenery. Maybe it’s the whole hippie ‘communing with nature’ thing. We find gardens, courtyards and balconies are great break-out spaces. When people move outside from a busy, loud, hot bar they invariably slow down, quieten down and relax. So we ensure every floor, every bar and ideally every room in our pubs have easy access to an outdoor space.

BOOGIE NIGHTS We all love a dance, but we also know dancefloors can create trouble, even in a pub. We make sure our dancefloors have egress in multiple directions, allowing people to break-out easily and quickly. We don’t run nightclubs, so we keep our dancefloors small in floor area, and try to create volume and space with high ceilings.

If the safety of our patrons wasn’t a good enough reason to look into these ideas, here’s a few more: they make a better pub. They make us busier.

They make us money. Its a no-brainer.

11

MUSIC CONNECTION Pay only for the music you play.

Stuart Watters is a Director of Morph TV and consults for Nightlife Music

W

12

ith the ongoing publicity surrounding public performance tariff increases, there has been a strong focus on compliance for both venues and music suppliers. This is a matter which I am both personally and professionally involved in and passionate about. For the record, Nightlife Music is a client of mine and I have a long history of working with record labels and more broadly in the music industry. My work with Nightlife, which has been a long-time friend and supplier to the hospitality industry has put me in the unique position of being able to marry the interests of the hospitality industry — which wants to play good music and is generally happy to pay a reasonable rate —and the interests of the music industry which want to get paid for its work.

One of the continuing battlegrounds between the various parties has been the PPCA’s on-going increases in its restaurant tariff. While variable, the new financial year witnessed the third incremental increase to the staged five-year increases in this tariff which has seen this go from approximately $87 prior to the tariff changes to as high as $4635 in this financial year. In the rush to provide PPCA free music many public performance solutions were slapped together to provide what were effectively band-aid solutions to the tariff increases — without offering any substantive music offering. Nightlife decided to play the long game on this and my role was to negotiate directly with a range of key record labels. The aim was to build a library of licensed content for which Nightlife could collect and distribute public performance royalties. When this solution was launched, Nightlife went to market with about 25 record labels on board from Australia and overseas and currently they have agreements in place with over 75 key record label partners. From those partners, they now offer a complete public performancecompliant solution for restaurant use that draws from over 7500 songs.

While Nightlife’s solution offers a sub-

stantial savings, with clients paying a flat annual fee of $384 (compared to as high as $4635 under Tariff R), it also uses a fairer model for distributing royalties by funds based on the songs that have actually played in a venue. Needless to say, this solution offers savings for businesses but, importantly, it bases its offering on a select hand-picked collection of music ensuring their clients music is consistent with the experience the venue is aiming to deliver.

There is no point in making a saving on music for saving’s sake, if the music you end up playing drives customers away.

While the above outlines a cost-effective solution for many venues, it’s not a one size fits all. While Nightlife’s offer will suit a large number of restaurants, there are some venues which may want to have access to the full catalogue of music and therefore need to be prepared to pay for the right to do so. That said, having access to all of the music is not always ideal. As stated in last month’s column, the wrong music can drive your customers away rather than keep them in the venue. It is well known that music has a profound impact on people and if they’re feeling good then they will be inclined to stay in their environment. So, get the music right and your customers will stay and will buy the extra drink or two, order dessert and have a coffee. Who knows, they’ll probably tip the waiters as well!

The curatorial process of selecting, programming and managing music is absolutely critical to ensuring a restaurant’s customers are coming away with a positive experience. Even if the customer isn’t explicitly conscious of the music, there are subliminal forces at work that encourage an overall benefit to customer satisfaction.

Sure, music selection is important but there’s no point if the volume levels are not monitored properly, or if the acoustics of the room create harsh reflections. Architects and AV guys often overlook this fundamental issue: acoustics. Favouring a stark aesthetic or an array of strategically placed speakers, I would contend that a well-treated room should be

“the new financial year witnessed the third incremental increase … from approximately $87 prior to the tariff changes to as high as $4635 in this financial year” the starting point for delivering an environment where people can hear the dinner conversation — without having to compete with their cutlery!

This is all too evident in a number of recent articles by restaurant critics in the major metropolitan dailies who are increasingly conscious of the impact of the music in the venue and treat this part of the experience with as much importance as other elements like décor and the service — in some cases it’s even on par with the food! In one review, the critic went so far as to say that the overall experience in the restaurant she was dining in, while pleasant on the one hand, was completely undermined by the inappropriate and disjointed choice of music.

Music has long been a key ingredient in a great night out. This is ever more the case as Australian consumers become more and more discerning in their food choices — but also in their taste in music. Music is now an important tool in providing the point of difference for the restaurant sector where everyone is now an armchair food critique.

Get the music right, work out what you need to make the experience fit with your target clients, and then ensure you’re paying for what you need to provide that experience. Get it right and you’ll set your restaurant apart from the pack.

24 Moons Alumbra The Arthouse Hotel Australian Outback Spectacular The Bank Hotel The Botanical Bungalow 8 Brisbane Hotel (Perth) Club Marconi Discovery Establishment Half Moon Hornsby RSL Ivy Katuk Kudu Lounge Luxe Bar The Mean Fiddler The Met Oxford Art Factory Slip Inn

AS SEEN ON BIG BROTHER 2012

The Tornado

Portable Outdoor Gas Heater + Lantern For LPG + Natural Gas

Portable Centrifugal Misting Fan For Indoor + Outdoor

The Firestick is our signature world-class outdoor portable heater, exclusively designed and patented by Climate Australia. The Firestick creates a stunning magical setting, heats areas up to 20sqm, and is available for both LPG + Natural Gas.

The Tornado Summer Misting Fan is fully portable, with 3-speed control and a water tank with capacity for up to 29 litres. Cools temperatures up to 20ยบ. Ideal for restaurants, entertainment / dance venues, hospitality, outdoor concerts, gyms, sports events etc.

CLIMATE AUSTRALIA Specialists in Outdoor Temperature Solutions

www.climateaustralia.com.au

Unit 6, Enterprise Industrial Estate 8 Tilley Lane Frenchs Forest NSW 2086

(02) 9977 3474

Need a passive column solution?

Think FAST TM

Tannoy proudly presents VLS Series, a new range of passive column loudspeakers aimed at the architectural audio market; where maximum intelligibility and minimum aesthetic impact are critical. With transducer technology adapted from our award-winning QFlex steerable system, coupled with an innovative new passive crossover network design, VLS Series is the first Tannoy product to incorporate our new FAST (Focussed Asymmetrical Shaping Technology), delivering improved intelligibility in the typical listening plane and greater flexibility in mounting location.

When you want to keep the focus on your audience, think FAST

To learn more about Tannoy call 1300 13 44 00 or visit www.audioproducts.com.au

16

POP-UP PERFECTION For three weeks in July MasterChef Dining brought the celebrated television show to life in real time and in the flesh, bigger than ever before.

MasterChef Dining Forecourt of St Mary’s Cathedral Sydney, NSW 1300 558 973 or www.masterchef.com.au Story: Joanna Lowry

Contacts: the projects* (Creative): (02) 8212 8510 or www.liveintheprojects.com Akin Creative (Architecture): (02) 9043 3166 or www.akincreative.com AZB Creative (Interior Design): (02) 9029 1840 or www.azbthecreative.com Keystone (Hospitality): (02) 8070 2400 or www.thekeystonegroup.com.au One Management (Talent Management) (02) 8084 7579 or www.onemanagement.com.au Butlers Events (Stage Structure & Lighting) (02) 9723 1799 or www.butlersevents.com.au

N

ow in its fourth season, and with plenty of fans to boot, MasterChef is a force to be reckoned with. And that’s exactly what Carrie Barker and Jack Bedwani from the projects* dared to do when they were approached by Shine 360 and Network Ten, the custodians of the MasterChef brand, and asked to bring the series to life. The result, MasterChef Dining, saw some 3500 guests wined and dined in a temporary dome structure in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. Dishes were transported from tellies to tummies, and the pop-up genre was pushed to new, ambitious heights. “We didn’t want MasterChef Dining to look and feel like a pop-up restaurant,” Carrie Barker from the projects* says. “We wanted it to look and feel like a fine-dining restaurant — one that happened to only be there for three weeks.”

SEEKING CITY SPACE Like all pop-up projects, MasterChef Dining was a race against the clock. Barker and Bedwani had just eight weeks to conceive and launch the space. “Time was really against us,” Barker says. “We really had to pull together all our contacts and suppliers.” But first, they had to secure a site. After looking at Andrew (Boy) Charleton pool in Wooloomooloo, as well as various sites around the Botanic Gardens and Sydney Harbour, they decided on the forecourt of St Mary’s cathedral. “We thought it was a really iconic location, what with Hyde Park across the road,” Barker says. “We thought the cathedral backdrop would create an interesting juxtaposition between the old and the new. Obviously there are lots of people walking past, and it’s a really high traffic spot, so it was a great in terms of creating a buzz.”

In order to get development approval, Barker and Bed-

wani had to negotiate with the City of Sydney. “They were fantastic; really accommodating,” Barker says.

“We still had to get over all the traditional hurdles — OH&S regulations, weight loading regulations, structural regulations — but they would get back to us really quickly and give us answers on each step of the way.

They were really supportive because they thought it would be a great thing for Sydney.”

there was a real ‘wow’ factor.” The dining area, which seated between 80 and 100 guests, was perched on a mezzanine level with views over a bustling open kitchen that ran the length of the space. Underneath, adjacent to the kitchen, was the bar, which had a capacity of 100. The bar was open to members of the public, which meant that fans of the show that missed out on dining tickets (given the event sold out before it even began, there were a lot of them) still had an opportunity to imDESIGN HIGHLIGHTS merse themselves in the projects*’ MasterChef world.

When it came to designing the outdoor structure, Bed- “We talked about having an open kitchen and open bar wani enlisted the help of Kelvin Ho. Two festival stages from the start,” Barker says. “We wanted it to be acceswere pushed together to create the dome-like outer- sible.” shell, and the front façade consisted of a scaffolding structure with two 6m x 4m windows, which allowed THE FERN FACTOR for passers-by to peer inside and watch the action un- Beyond the kitchen, a central atrium divided the space fold in the kitchen. “Without fail, there was always in two, creating a sense of symmetry. Alex Zabottosomebody outside taking a photo,” Barker says. “We Bentley, who collaborated with Bedwani on the fit-out think we probably got as many photos as the cathedral.” of the interior, filled the void with a hanging installaThe large volume of the space, coupled with a striking tion. “We wanted to create this moment where there all-white exterior and bold signage, made MasterChef were all these living, watery things inside an industrial hard to miss. “It made a very strong statement in that space,” Zabotto-Bentley says. “We wanted to make it environment,” Ho says. “It was all about incorporating lush. We wanted people to salivate, to be like, ‘oh my the elements of the TV show — voyeurism, observation god, I’ve never seen anything like this.’ So we decided to and theatrics.” But perhaps the most impressive thing do a 1970s-inspired, overblown plant thing. And then it about the structure is the fact that it only took five days was like, why don’t we get 40 ferns and suspend them to erect and three to pull down. “We used a pre-fabri- from the roof, and shine a green light on them to make cated truck system,” Ho says. “So getting it up and down them even more ridiculously green?” But finding the ferns to sell his vision was a labour of love. “I think we was a really quick process.”

The white exterior also left a lot to the imagination; exhausted every fern supplier in Australia,” Zabottoonce you walked inside, you were immediately trans- Bentley says. “It got to the point where we were hangported. “Inside the tent it was this sort of wonderland,” ing up on these fern people being like, ‘It’s too small!’

Ho says. “It was an extension of the dynamic of the We were very particular. We wanted to exact size, the show. It looked totally different from the outside so perfect fern. It became a bit of an obsession.”

17

18

Inside the temporary dining space: a tantalising foodie hot-house.

The preoccupation with plants didn’t end at ferns. Tables were decorated with terrariums and succulents, and Zabotto-Bentley oversaw the direction of the pantry area, which featured jars of preserved pickles and organic products sourced from Simon Johnson Quality Foods. “With the pantry, we wanted to create a beautifully visually merchandised space,” Zabotto-Bentley says. “We went for a kind of explosive pantry; the dream of what a pantry should look like.” Furniture with natural finishes like timber and leather was chosen to match. And to soften the space, Zabotto-Bentley clad the interior in plywood. “We had just created a large herringbone floor in a restaurant, Petitenget, in Bali and are obsessed with the herringbone pattern.” he says. “With Masterchef Dining we create one giant herringbone. It was like a giant zig-zag that travelled all the way around the building, but it had a provincial, handmade feeling, so you lost that notion of being inside a hard shell. We didn’t want diners to feel like they were eating in a warehouse.”

That’s not to say that Zabotto-Bentley avoided all things industrial. In amongst the forest of ferns were metal wires, rubbish bins and clusters of industrial lights — big clusters of industrial lights. “They were gigantic,”

Zabotto-Bentley says. “They were 1.8 metres high, but they had to be; the roof was really high, so they would have looked tiny otherwise. The idea was that it would be more industrial up the top, and more natural down the bottom. As you looked up, it would sort of transform from the living to the dead.” The bathrooms, which were entirely self-contained (they ran off grey water from the kitchen), were also hardy. And with a black, white and red colour scheme, and lots of stainless steel, they matched the high-calibre design of the rest of the venue. “The bathrooms were Jack [Bedwani’s] baby,” Barker says. “He was really keen for us to launch a premium restaurant and felt we needed to keep that level throughout every aspect, from the food to the loos.”

MINGLING WITH THE STARS The dining experience was just as carefully considered.

Barker was keen to integrate the MasterChef brand by making the most of the star-studded kitchen cast. MasterChef personalities like Julie Goodwin, Justin Schofield and Adam Liaw, and celebrated chefs like Justin North, Kylie Kwong and Christine Mansfield, were not only on hand to cook, but also to kick back and have a chin wag. “The icing on the cake was the fact that the

talent actually mingled with the diners,” Barker says.

“It was really interactive. Every night, we had two sittings— one at 6.30pm and one at 8.30pm — and two chefs on hand. Both chefs did an intro at the beginning of each sitting, and they were all very happy to have a chat.” Table service was top-notch too. “We worked with Keystone, and they look after venues like Bungalow 8, Gazebo and Manly Wine. They sourced our bar and wait staff, so everyone knew what they were doing.”

What’s more, all tips were matched dollar for dollar by American Express and donated to Oz Harvest. “All up, we raised around $38,000 for charity, which is fantastic,” Barker says.

Given the sheer scale of MasterChef Dining — the size of the site, the quality of the design, and the momentum of a much-loved brand — it’s fair to say that Barker and Bedwani raised the bar for pop-up projects to come. But was MasterChef Dining the ultimate popup? “I would never say it’s the ultimate because if we were to do it next year, we’d do it better,” Barker says.

“But we certainly did something original and unique, and we thought long and hard about the customer experience. Ultimately I think we brought MasterChef to life, which is what we set out to do.”

Installation-dedicated true line array

The Expandable Vertical Array (EVA) series is a vertical line array with an elegant system design which provides a simple solution for installed sound applications.

EVA offers true line array performance, and coherent far-field summing from the patented Hydra® plane wave generator. The internal, hidden rigging not only looks great, but also makes EVA incredibly easy to install.

The sophisticated internal crossover lets you power up to eight EVA fullrange modules from a single amplifier channel, eliminating the need for external crossovers or DSP.

Scan the QR code with your smartphone for more information on the EVA loudspeaker series.

Bosch Communications Systems 25 Huntingwood Drive HUNTINGWOOD NSW 2148 Ph: (02) 9683 4752 Fax: (02) 9890 5928 Email: boschcomms@au.bosch.com Web: www.boschcommunications.com.au

The four fullrange modules in the series are complemented by two matching subwoofers that can be flowin in the array. If you think that your budget isn’t big enough for a great sounding line array, EVA may be just the answer you’re looking for.

Line arrays have never been easier

20

HALL YOU CAN EAT Trocadero Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd VIC (03) 8698 8888 or www.trocadero.co Allan Powell (Architect): (03) 9534 8367 or www.allanpowell.com.au YSI: 0419 577 572 or info@soundinvestment.com.au Bose: 1800 023 367 or www.bose.com.au

Story: Christopher Holder

In the shadow of the Melbourne’s Arts Centre spire, Hamer Hall emerged from its crystallised state after a $136m refit. The great and the good arrived for the grand opening to hear kd Lang and other musical luminaries christen one of the world’s bestsounding concert venues.

Meanwhile, without fanfare, Trocadero opened to cater to preshow dinner and drinks, after-show dining and was even a haven for those after a fortifying ale during intermission.

It’s another string to the Van Haandel Group bow (Stokehouse, Comme, Circa). It’s a modern, sophisticated yet accessible brasserie that provides high quality food without the ‘fine dining’ snootiness.

Frank Van Haandel and Anthony Musarra are the creative minds behind Trocadero while Nick Bennett (ex Cecconi’s, Melbourne, and Tom Aikens Restaurant, London) takes on the role of head chef and will work closely with Musarra in crafting a Europeaninfluenced menu which focuses on Mediterranean flavours and reinvented classic dishes. venue caught up with Anthony Musarra a couple of weeks after the soft opening: “We were really attracted to the site. We saw huge potential and with thought it could really sit well with our group and our approach — really giving it some personality and energy. And the backdrop of the city and the river is amazing.”

What inspiration did he draw on? “There are a number of amazing restaurants in public spaces around the world. I’m thinking of George on top of the Pompidou Centre in Paris, or The Mod-

ern on top of the Museum for Modern Art in New York. These places have smart operators who manage to be accessible to tourists and locals alike, who are all happy to share this neutral space that works for everybody.”

From the stunning Tom Dixon marble top tables, to the 1.2m ice bucket by sculptor Peter Cole which is set to sit as a jewel behind the Trocadero bar, to the artwork commissioned by Japanese graffiti artist, Jun Inoue — the Trocadero decor is set to inspire patrons.

The AV was taken care of by long-time Van Haandel collaborator, Richard Hallam from YSI. Anthony Musarra had an immersive, atmospheric sound for the venue in mind, without hotspots. Richard choose an all-Bose system, combining low-profile Freespace 3 black cube speakers (that intentionally contrast starkly with the white ceiling) and Freespace in-ceiling subs. There are four zones, with a two independent iPod-style sources feeding the system. There’s a DJ point for another option (although the system isn’t intended to accommodate rocking parties) and a wireless microphone can be plumbed in. There’s a warmth and fullness to the sound, which Richard puts down to the spec’ing of extra subs in the restaurant area.

Trocadero includes a variety of indoor and protected outdoor spaces all of which have expansive and magnificent views of the Yarra River and Melbourne’s skyline. The indoor and outdoor bar will host up to 140 people and the restaurant will seat 100 people inside and 80 people outside on the terrace.

21

The shimmering new front bar of Trocadero at Southbank.

22

Brisbane's new Stokehouse Q restaurant presents proudly.

SOUTH SIDE BELLE The Stokehouse marque migrates North, to Brisbane’s South Bank.

Story: Julia Langham Stokehouse Q Sidon Street, South Bank, QLD (07) 3013 0333 or www.stokehousebrisbane.com.au

W

hatever happened to the hi-glam tack of Bris Vegas? In recent years the tropical Northern capital has fast caught up with the modern world and some would claim, has surpassed, its Southern cousins in the sophistication stakes as the city’s hospitality sector has undergone a glamorous and very worldly makeover.

South Bank, once the city’s CBD and then industrial heartland, was reinvented for ‘Expo 88’ when the quirky ‘City Beach’ development had snap-happy Japanese tourists flocking in droves. While the South Bank lifestyle markets are still held every weekend, organic produce rather than incense is now the order of the day and the first Sunday of the month hosts a Young Designers market which is fast defining a new inner city über cool.

LUST FOR SOPHISTICATION The Brisbane River which has seen some good (and let’s face it, some not so good) developments along its length, is now the drawcard for a stylish and awardwinning architectural development known as River Quay on the former boardwalk site at South Bank.

Billed as ‘Brisbane’s most spectacular riverfront dining destination’, River Quay seems to have successfully captured the zeitgeist of Brisbane’s lust for sophistication.

Local architects, Arkhefield and landscape architects

Cardno S.P.L.A.T, teamed up on the project which resulted in a custom-designed state-of-the-art 42-hectare sub-tropical urban oasis. Together with the South Bank arbour, rainforest walks, recreation areas and a purpose built amphitheatre, this space is intended to provide a refuge from the bustle of city life.

Four out of five of the restaurants are currently trading already and valet parking is on offer with a private jetty to welcome diners who arrive by water craft.

Designated water-craft driver anyone?

Flagship tenant, Stokehouse Q, a brand new baby sister to Melbourne’s St Kilda’s 20-year institution, takes

“The Stokehouse brand has always been about a laid back yet sophisticated vibe”

23

Parklands, engage with the river, and appear uniquely Queensland in its overall feel.

“As one of the last key publicly accessible riverfront sites left near the CBD, the project needed to not only re-imagine the public space but create a dramatic end point for the whole Parklands precinct,” she said.

Stand-out features of the development are the interesting folded roofs and dynamic building forms, designed to complement the tidal river flows of its glorious waterfront location.

“The roofscape twists, folds and cantilevers to create space, while simple, repetitive glazing and bi-fold doors create a foil for these moves, allowing the roof to appear to float from the ground,” she explained.

“From my perspective what works particularly well is the integration of the buildings with the new public space and their relationship to the public arbour, promenade and river. For the fit-out the key move was to ‘honour the roof‘ — that is, allow the fitout to respect the spatial qualities of the sculptural roof and ceiling plane.”

STOKEHOUSE BRANDING pride of place with its wide glass frontage overlooking Project managed and designed by Arkhefield interior the Goodwill Bridge and the city skyline. design, led by associate Angela Layton, with team members, Aimee Turner, Monika Striel, David Lloyd UNIQUELY QUEENSLAND and Kerry Condon, Stokehouse opened in November Arkhefield associate, Anne Sulinski (and her team, 2011 on a long lease. With only six months from design comprising Andrew Gutteridge, Matthew Smith and to opening, personalising the space for the iconic Michael Carlotto) designed the River Quay buildings and public spaces. She said the brief from South Bank Corporation was to create a ‘must see’ destination which would re-activate a previously neglected part of the

eatery required the amalgamation of two tenancies.

The 600sqm space now houses a kitchen, restaurant and bar (both with interior and exterior areas) and a mezzanine function space with guest bathrooms and associated back-of-house space.

“The development’s folded roof is a beautiful response to the landscape and within that, we needed to reinterpret a restaurant space that represented Queensland, but also reflected the Stokehouse brand,” Angela explained.

She said the transformation of the space had resulted in a seamless sequence of rooms that complement each other.

“As you walk through there’s different levels of formality,” she said.

The stand-out element is a wood batten feature wall, curved to reflect the striking curves of the exterior building and roofline. “The sculptural spline wall embraces the bar and travels through the centre of the space,” Angela added.

The result is an elegant, pared back design using a palette of deliberately simple materials to reinforce the relationship between the interior design and architecture.

With timber as the hero, steel, stone, mosaic tiled floors and a simple polished plaster wall in the dining room give the space a bespoke, hand crafted elegance.

24

HAANDEL WITH CARE An enormous custom artwork created by artist ‘Spook’ (Gary James) takes pride of place in the dining room and is a reflection of his commission in the St Kilda restaurant.

In Melbourne, Stokehouse embodies ‘beach house chic’. In Brisbane, the river is the focus within a city edge setting.

Owned by the van Haandel Group, Stokehouse’s plans to expand up into the Sunshine State was timely.

“It was the right timing for us,” explained van Haandel’s General Manager, Anthony Musarra.

“Sydney’s (hospitality market) is hard. The unique design of the development really appealed to us and it gave us the impetus to fill a gap in the Brisbane market.

“The Stokehouse brand has always been about a laid back yet sophisticated vibe. I think we managed to capture a similar ambiance in an urban setting with Stokehouse Q.”

Lighting: Stokehouse Ambience The lighting strategy for Brisbane’s Stokehouse Q was based on creating an appropriate atmosphere that suited and united the various spaces and added ambience to each room.

Arkhefield worked with LAD lighting to develop a strategy relevant primarily to the Modular range. There were two distinct philosophies employed: one for the bar and restaurant, and another for the high level roof.

In the bar, the lighting was kept at a low level to focus light on faces and lower the scale of the room. In the restaurant the focus was on lighting the tables so the food could be highlighted and celebrated.

Lighting to the underside of the roof was provided by Spock LED lights in particular. They were chosen as a general wash light throughout for its flexibility. They light the roof from below so that the form of the architecture can be highlighted and viewed from across the river.

g n i k n Thi big?

Give your managers a boost Qualifications: • Facilities Management

• Frontline Management • Business Management • Project Management

1800 066 128 • www.unep.edu.au UNE Partnerships Pty Ltd - The Education & Training Company of the University of New England

He cites the outdoor space, an expansive outdoor bar named the Palm Room, as one of his favourite features.

The flexibility of the design, including the mezzanine that can accommodate from 20 to 150 guests with ease, is another aspect with which he is most enamoured.

He admits to having been a bit apprehensive about the amount of interior detail proposed by the architects initially, but he now concedes, “It really worked”.

ALL GROWN UP Arkhefield was recently recognised formally in the public forum for their design work on the River Quay precinct, receiving the Karl Langer Award for Urban Design, as well as the Beatrice Hutton Award for Commercial Architecture. Stokehouse Q and River Quay will now proceed to the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) national awards, where they will be finalists amongst other state awarded projects from around Australia. The winners will be announced at the AIA’s national awards in November this year.

With world class design like River Quay raising the benchmark, Brisbane has clearly arrived as a world class dining destination — all grown up in terms of its capacity for culture, cuisine and architecture.

26

CONTACTS Arkhefield: (07) 3831 8150 or www.arkhefield.com.au Isis (Construction): (02) 9906 6977 or www.isis.com.au Cardno SPLAT: (07) 5534 7533 or www.cardno.com.au/splat Austral (Ceiling Lining Acoustic Plywood): (03) 9706 3277 or www.australaustralia.com.au.

Finestone (Carrara Marble): (07) 5539 6553 or www.finestone.com.au Gibbon Group (Tretford T523 carpet): (07) 3881 1777 or www.gibbongroup.com.au Amber (Wall Tile): 1300 362 241 or www.ambertiles.com.au Boral (Timber Flooring & Decking; Spotted Gum Joinery): 1800 818 317 or www.boral.com.au LAD Group (Lighting): (07) 3324 0222 or www.ladgroup.com.au Corporate Culture (Classic Arne Jacobsen Series 7 Dining Chair): (02) 9690 0077 or www.corporateculture.com.au Stylecraft (Duna Soft Dining Chair): 1300 306960 or www.stylecraft.com.au Space Furniture (Accademia Velina Outdoor Dining Chairs & B+B Italia Crinoline Outdoor Armchairs): (02) 8339 7588 or www.spacefurniture.com.au

Kitchen Business The all important restaurant kitchen of the Stokehouse is fitted with quality cooking equipment to match its high calibre frontof-house standrads. Comcater supplied a range of world class equipment to meet the demands of the busy kitchen. The equipment installed includes the stylish cantilevered Mareno 70 & 90 series of cooking range, the world renowned Rational Self Cooking Center combination oven as well as the intuitive Tecnomac blast chiller. Comcater worked closely behind the scenes with Isis Constructions and Chris Love Design to deliver a functional kitchen fitout based on the equipment specifications best suited to the demands of this benchmark project.

Comcater: (03) 8369 4600 or www.comcater.com.au Stoddarts (Kitchen Fitout): (07) 3344 2444 or www.stoddart.com.au

28

FRESHLY PICKED Chiswick 65 Ocean Street, Woollahra, NSW (02) 8388 8688 or www.chiswickrestaurant.com.au Story: Heather Barton

The approach at the recently opened Chiswick in Sydney’s Woollahra, is part of the trend towards de-formalisation in dining. The first thing you might ask: “‘De-formalisation…’ is that even a word?” Fair point and sincerest apologies to the philologists amongst our readership.

But what distinguishes de-formalisation in dining from the merely informal on the one hand and the formal on the other, is that it involves the quality and techniques of a fine dining experience in a de-formalised, de-constructed context.

Think Café Vue at Heide in relation to Vue de Monde, Shortgrain in relation to Longgrain and here, Matt Moran and Peter Sullivan’s Chiswick in relation to Aria.

De-formalisation, where signature style and menu items are crystallised and packaged for accessibility and affordability without sacrificing excellence, is a business model that has seen some growth and success, as the top end of the market re-calibrates to the economic climate and changing customer sentiment.

Not as if that was necessarily Moran and Sullivan’s objective here. Their approach was somewhat determined by the site.

GARDEN PARTY Chiswick is located in Woollahra’s Chiswick Gardens at the

much-loved, sorely missed, former Prunier’s Restaurant.

The restaurant’s suburban, garden setting demands a casual, local, family-oriented approach. Its low lying converted stables, which now resemble a contemporary glasshouse, has French doors that open directly onto the gardens. Children can play on the lawn in full view — after not finishing their meals and being excused anyway — while their parents finish theirs. The vegetable garden that partially supplies the kitchen begs to be be meandered through.

A drink can be taken onto the portico where one can loll contentedly on the bench seat. It’s all very Sunday family lunch, spontaneous weeknight dinner at the long refectory table and see who you run into, or book a table with people you like and share the many dishes on the menu designed precisely for that.

Locals have a great attachment to the Chiswick site and its history. As with much of Woollahra, Chiswick Gardens were once part of the 1130-acre Cooper Estate. Mr Cooper and his ‘wife’, for which nearby Cooper Park is named, were a fabulously eccentric couple of which there are many stories to be told (including ours on the Bite Club in this same issue, which also has the Coopers at its core).

Sidle up to a second or third generation local at Chiswick and ask if they have a Cooper connection and listen to the

UNCOMMON GARDEN BRANDING Chiswick’s identity and branding was designed by leading agency Frost*. The creative solution is inspired by the site’s historic gardens, as well at the recently planted 150sqm vegetable garden that will supply the restaurant with fresh produce.

Every element of the design has a botanical influence – from the logo design featuring tendril-like typography, through to the soft muted palette, sustainable materials and photographic studies of plants drawn from the gardens. For the typographical geeks amongst us: The logo is a bespoke version of AW Conqueror Didot light, a classic serif font design by famed French typographer Jean Francoise Porchez, who gave special permission for Frost to customise.

Frost Design: (02) 9280 4233 or byte.frostdesign.com.au

29

history of the place unfold.

Some of that history will include when the council acquired the private garden for use as a public park in 1938, and when the main house was demolished and the stables converted, into what is now the restaurant.

One of the most significant historical moments in the story will be in 1971, when restaurateur Tony Geminis moved his earlier-established Pruniers from Double Bay to the Chiswick Gardens. Its 65-year legacy, 40 of them in Woollahra, is a testament to a tenure that restaurateurs rarely achieve.

If Moran and Sullivan can achieve anything like that, they’ll be happy. Those who aren’t going to be happy however are the brides of Woollahra. In its incarnation as Prunier’s the venue was host to many a wedding reception, possibly due to the proximity of All Saints a few doors down. Chiswick won’t be doing them. Sorry. No discussion will be entered into. What it is doing though, has been well received to date with tables booked four weeks in advance.

INTERACTIVE TABLE FOR TWO The approach at Chiswick is a three pronged one, based around de-formalisation as already discussed, interactivity and traceability.

Interactivity is embedded in the menu with the shared dishes that include a whole roasted dory, beef ale pie, a woodroasted chicken and the Moran family lamb. The kitchen is interactive to the extent that it is open to view, adding to the theatricality of the experience, as is the kitchen garden where the chefs ‘forage’ for herbs and vegetables. There is also a degree of interactivity between the inside and outside written into the design of the place afforded by the French doors that open onto the garden. The style of service is also more casual and conversational and therefore interactive with an aim of putting people at ease.

Part of that ease is due to experience and familiarity. The front of house team and the chefs have in fact all worked with Moran and Sullivan before. Head chef, Tim Bryan racked up six years with Moran in the kitchen at Aria, as well as The Square in London. Marta Presciutti leads the team on the floor, having worked at The Fat Duck until 2009 and at ARIA for the past two years. Christina on reception and Richie and Laura are all come from Aria, with a couple of others nabbed form the nearby Four-in-Hand.

LOCAL & TRACEABLE Keeping it in the family, much of the lamb and beef is sourced for Chiswick as is Aria’s from Moran’s father, Jim’s

farm, in Rockley near Bathhurst. This contributes to the principle of traceability informing the approach at Chiswick.

What Jim can’t provide is sourced form Victor Churchill’s in Woollahra and likewise while the menu includes comment on what is good in the garden, like beetroot, broadbeans, snow peas and rhubarb, what the garden can’t provides is traceably sourced.

Those old enough to remember, say that Chiswick is a reprise of Moran and Sullivan’s first venture, the Paddington Inn Bistro which launched their careers two decades ago. Maybe like many successful people after a certain point they want to revisit the very thing that excited them in the first place.

Moran said, “Peter and I have always wanted to create a ‘locals restaurant’ — a place where you can drop in to share a plate and have a drink at the bar after work or enjoy a long Sunday lunch with close family and friends.

Chiswick is the sort of place we would want in our neighbourhood — produce-driven dishes and shared plates; friendly and accessible.”

30

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED Story: Joanna Lowry

The Apollo 4 Macleay Street, Potts Point, Sydney, NSW (02) 8354 0888 or www.theapollo.com.au

V

enue entrepreneur Sam Christie, chef Jonathan Barthelmess and architect George Livissianis are an illustrious trio. They also happen to be good friends: Barthelmess has known Christie and Livissianis since they were kids, and Christie and Livissianis worked together previously on the Thai warehouse institution Longrain/Shortgrain. The three of them also share a Greek heritage so naturally they share a knowledge of, and love for, good Greek food. It made sense that they would collaborate well, and it was only a matter of time before they did. The Apollo, their first joint venture, has been in the pipeline for years. “We’ve been talking about doing something together for a while,” Christie says. “We were looking at another site about two years ago, but unfortunately it fell through. Originally we were looking in the Surry Hills and Darlinghurst area, but when this place on Macleay Street in Potts Point came up, we jumped on it. That’s how it started. And away we went.”

Broadly speaking, The Apollo is an Australian Greek restaurant serving what Barthelmess describes as “polished village food”. But how it would look, and what it would feel like, didn’t crystallise until after demolition.

“We had round table discussions about the food offering, service and the look and feel,” Livissianis says. “But once the space was locked in, things evolved. It wasn’t until the existing fitout was removed and the building carcass exposed that we new what we could utilise.”

The existing shell had elements the team could expose and treat to be more suggestive of the Mediterranean — concrete columns, arched windows, and plaster detailing on the ceiling — and Livissianis decided the space should look Greek, but not overtly so. “I had a few ideas that related to island landscapes that were kind of dusty,” Livissianis says. “I didn’t want blue and white stripes and bowls full of lemons. I wanted to avoid that kind of stereotype.”

To that end, Livissianis created a highly textural interior. “We had all this existing façade to deal with. Some of the walls were wallpapered, some were painted and some were rendered. We wanted to rationalise these layers.” There are granite and brass finishes, and the colour palette is muted, with hints of aubergine and

brown. There’s also a grey concrete sheet, which runs the length of one wall and wraps around the kitchen.

“It would have been a bit too grunge and industrial if we didn’t clad the walls with a more refined, softer, smother finish. It’s a textural contrast to the cut back of the render on the façade walls. The sheeting also defines the new work, wrapping from the dining room, through to the bar and into the kitchen, so your experience of restaurant is continuous,” Livissianis says.

“Once we stripped it all out, it kind of dictated that we clad it in something, because it was just all over the place,” Christie adds. Greek references include a potted olive tree and perched soft-glow lights with shades.

“The actual shades remind me of my Greek grandmother,” Christie says. “It’s just one of those weird things: Greek grandmothers seem to have lampshades — you know, the ones with the pull chords? — everywhere in their houses.”

The other Greek reference is, of course, the name, and Christie’s Dad is credited with coming up with it. Apollo was the ancient Greek god of many things: light, music, poetry, healing and the business of predicting the future. Livissianis adds, “The Apollo sounds strong, and looks good written down.” And the name has a double meaning: it also references the iconic Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York. “We play soul music here in honour of The Apollo,” Christie says. “We secured some Bose speakers through a mate, and we’ve put together some great playlists.”

The dining experience at The Apollo is relaxed. “It’s casual,” Barthelmess says. “It’s something you’re familiar with.” “I think it goes back to our experience of growing up with Greek food,” Livissianis says. “It’s share plates.

You have it in a group; you have it with your family. Obviously Jonathan’s interpretation is much more beautiful and refined than what we had at home.” Patrons can choose from banquette and, after much deliberation, outdoor seating. “We had 86 objections to our proposal for an outdoor seating area,” Christie says. “They put some pretty stringent restrictions on us. We originally wanted to have 24 people out there. We ended up getting 16 in the day and 12 at night.”

The arm wrestle with the council over outdoor seating

31

32

was the biggest hurdle that had to be overcome. But there were a couple of other setbacks. Construction spanned the Christmas period, which meant the process stalled for three weeks. “It was very swift apart from that,” Christie says. “All up, it took four and a half months. Because there was an existing restaurant here we didn’t have to go through much of a process for licensing or usage, and we’d worked with the builder before.” The ceiling also presented some challenges.

“There were three layers of old ceiling,” Livissanis says.

“There were massive ducts and sprinkler pipes and electrical cables and all sorts of things.” The process of bringing the dining chairs up to scratch is described

by Livissanis as “a bonding experience”. Achieving what’s known as a “soap finish” — a look favoured by the Danes — required some good, old-fashioned elbow grease. “Basically you dilute some laundry soup — you know, some Lux-type stuff — with a little bit of water,” Christie explains. “You make a paste and you rub it over the raw timber. We had to do that seven times for every chair, and there are 60 chairs. We got some help from the backpackers across the road. We made them a bit of lunch in return.”

The Apollo opened five months ago, and its clientele is a real mixed bag. “We’re getting a lot of the older local patronage earlier in the evenings and then a younger crowd later on, especially towards the end of the week,” Christie says. “You can come as a family. You can come on a date. You can come with your mates.

It’s very flexible in that sense, and that’s something that we talked about from the get-go. You have to be everything to everybody in this current financial situation. Part of it’s the fact that it’s the kind of food that we ourselves want to eat, and the kind of place we want to eat at. I think that gave us a lot of drive.

That enjoyment then goes out to the customers.”

Contacts Paragon Constructions (Construction): (02) 4938 0093 George Livissianis Interior/Architecture (Design): (02) 9361 6685 Bose (Sound System): 1800 173 371 or www.bose.com.au Nightlife Music: (07) 3858 2550 or www.nightlife.com.au Artemide (Lamps): 1300 135 709 or www.artemide.com.au South Pacific Fabrics (Curtain Upholstery): (02) 9327 7222 or www.southpacificfabrics.com CDK Stone (Stone Supply): (02) 9822 5155 or www.cdkstone.com.au Casa Marble (Stone Fabrication): (02) 9708 0322 or www.casamarble.com.au

34

Company Showcase

OX Engineering group: 02 9616 7444 23 Britton St, Smithfield, NSW 2164 www.overexposure.com.au marketing@overexposure.com.au

“Excellence and functionality in design are never compromised by time” - says owner of Ox Engineering Terry Tisdale. 5 years ago when Sydney Cove’s prestigious Oyster Bar approached Ox Engineering, they wanted to revitalize the front end of their restaurant to enhance customer appeal with several pieces of furniture that could stand the harsh conditions of the Australian coast line. With a money back guarantee, 5 years later, the beautiful stainless steel furniture manufactured

by OX Engineering is still in use, elegant and is a master piece of ergonomics and aesthetics for Oyster Bar’s patrons and staff. The server, monitor station and reception desk are all a testament to functionality. With purpose built storage for cutlery and other necessities, the server also displays a curve featured in all other pieces as homage to Sydney’s iconic Opera House. The main reception desk is fully illuminated, and features high quality glazing and LED lighting with Oyster Bar’s main corporate logo. Perfectly positioned, the menu, attached to the reception desk, is a desired attraction when illuminated to entice the passing trade and illustrates at first glance the modern elegance patrons are to expect when dining at Oyster Bar. Ox Engineering has become renowned for its excellence in engineered architectural metalwork, large and small metal fabrication, urban street furniture and signage products. They’re leading the country in architectural metal designs and specialize in the manufacture and installation of customized pieces made of cast iron, wrought iron, stainless steel and much more including timber, glass and plastics.

35

36

HIGH FLYING FISH Flying Fish & Chips — The Star Sydney 80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont NSW www.flyingfish.com.au Story: Ailsa Brackley du Bois

CONTACTS: Bongiorno Hawkins & Associates (02) 9736 2800 or www.bhaa.com.au Arcon (Builders): (02) 9389 4100 or www.arcon-nsw.com.au Axolotl (02) 9666 1207 or www.axolotl.com.au Yellow Goat Design (07) 5532 8659 or www.yellowgoat.com.au Point of View (Lighting Design) (02) 9818 6355 or www.pov.com.au

Flying Fish & Chips offers an eye-catching design statement within the food and beverage precinct at The Star.

Launched late last year, this double shop-front outlet is the younger sister of the established Flying Fish fine dining restaurant & bar at nearby Jones Bay Wharf, recipient of a coveted Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2012 Chef’s Hat. The owners, the Dedes Group, have been in the Australian hospitality business for over 35 years, and have several other venues, such as Deckhouse in Woolwich Dock, Dedes Restaurant & Watergrill in Abbotsford and 4143 at the James Barnes in Alexandria.

Requesting a seamless space that was tactile and finely detailed, they commissioned Bongiorno Hawkins & Associates (BHA) to bring their new fast food venue to fruition.

Danielle Hawkins, the director of Bongiorno Hawkins, “The design focuses on the interplay of texture and light using a neutral colour palette; punctuated by the vibrancy of the food display. The curved front counter incorporates an embossed tile, selected for its tactile quality. The presentation of the curved counter to the dining precinct was a catalyst for the formation of the store and the basis from which many of the architectural elements evolved. The illuminated marble bar extension segments the counter and demar-

cates the food and beverage zones whilst emphasising the embossed motif on the service door (by Axolotl).”

Con Dedes says: “Flying Fish & Chips was designed not only to fit into Star’s cutting edge café court design, but also to look after guests using visual fresh food displays that provide ease of service when guests arrive en masse.”

The design brief therefore required a pragmatic configuration, creating a synergy between the operations of the fastpaced front and back of house areas. The conical-shaped dividing wall, likened to the rusted hull of a boat, functionally segregates the two areas. A service corridor was integrated, with glazed inserts to the ceiling level that create openness without compromising the continuity of the curved shopfront.

The suspended sculptural fish, by Yellow Goat Design, takes centre stage, embracing the viewer and identifying Flying Fish & Chips in a highly memorable fashion. The bespoke sculptural piece is offset by the rawness of the rusted conical dividing wall and the reflectivity of the gridded and mirrored ceiling, with clear oceanic references. The work of Point of View Lighting Design helps this installation and its surrounds shine.

37

Located in a spacious red brick warehouse, Middle Fish is a casual daytime café serving authentic Southern Thai cuisine. Owner Pla Siriporn Liamthong and her carpenter partner, Australian David Holtum, designed and built the fit-out themselves. It’s a creative, hand-made affair offering a welcoming fusion of traditional and contemporary Australian and Thai influences. The Carlton café opened in December 2011 and attracts the nearby University of Melbourne crowd, among various inner-city others, including the Thai community.

“We wanted a space that was modern and industrial, but also had a cultural feel to it,” says Pla Siriporn Liamthong.

With this in mind, the owners collaborated with emerging Thai artist Torlarp Larpjaroensook to create some site-specific contemporary artworks. Chiang Mai based Torlarp uses mixed media to emphasise his interpretation of functional art that is also aesthetically satisfying. The resulting works include popular Thai transport icons; a large scooter and a tuk-tuk (a South East Asian mini-taxi), as well as a big statement chandelier over the entrance.

These complement both the exposed brick walls and the

vaulted ceilings with timber trusses. The owners also included a large steel worktop, and a range of decorative metal screens, hand-made in Bangkok, as recurring visual features throughout the café. Reclaimed wood is used liberally for tabletops, stools and panels to soften the overall feel with natural touches.

Drawing on the ‘night market’ influences that are a large part of Thai life, the space offers a relaxed atmosphere, ideal for enjoying fresh Thai food with friends and family.

Family is in fact a central theme at Middle Fish, as Pla’s parents, auntie, sister and cousin all participated in the opening of the business. Since arriving in Australia over 9 years ago, ‘middle child’ Pla has worked in hospitality with coffee maestro Salvatore Malatesta at a number of St Ali venues such as Caffeine, Sensory Lab and Outpost. Pla now presides over the front of house at Middle Fish, where Thai and locally roasted coffee, along with a range of fresh Thai eats, are served with a smile. This imaginatively up-cycled environment is rich with genuine Thai warmth and character.

INNER CITY THAI STYLE Middle Fish (03) 9348 1704 122-128 Berkeley St, Carlton, VIC Story: Ailsa Brackley du Bois

38

BUFFET PARFAIT Conservatory Level 1, Crown Towers, Southbank VIC (03) 9292 5777 or www.crownmelbourne.com.au/ conservatory

CONTACTS Blainey North (Interior Design): (02) 8915 1833 or www.blaineynorth.com

With such a cornucopia of F&B offerings at Crown the humble ‘house’ buffet restaurant for the five-star Crown Towers hotel was always going to suffer from some kind of inferiority complex. And indeed for years, Conservatory was comfortable, practical, but a little ‘beige’. But now look at it!

The re-launched Conservatory looks amazing, has great views and is going all out to ensure Crown Towers guests (and anyone else for that matter) have access to some of the best buffet food in town. Lead by Conservatory’s Chef de Cuisine, Joanne Bainbridge, the restaurant’s chefs work from an open kitchen that enables interaction between chefs and guests. Guests can watch chefs cook, see their choice of piping hot naan made right before their eyes or order a roast just the way they like it. Seafood lovers will rejoice at the number of oysters on offer, cheese buffs are catered for too, while salad aficionados will marvel at one of the city’s most impressive salad bars.

“Crown has made a multi-million dollar investment to ensure that Conservatory is absolutely the best it can be, from the custom-made theatre-style kitchen to a commitment to use only the best possible ingredients,” said Crown Melbourne’s Executive General Manager, Food & Beverage, Nicolas Kurban.

Sydney-based architects and interior designers, Blainey North, gave life to the design that includes white marble floors, bespoke chandeliers, a distinctive woven timber ceiling, custom-made carpets, generous chairs and tables, solid, locally-made steel screens and dramatic reflective surfaces to create a lavish and engaging space in which to dine. “I’m particularly fond of the chairs. They’re influenced by luxury sports cars and feature Armani Casa fabric in red, gold or green with white leather perforated with tiny pin dots,” says North.

Experience our range.

Experience a world of opportunity.

NEC has a visual display solution to suit the needs of every application and user.

NEC has the widest range of visual display products on offer - LCD desktop displays, large-screen LCD and LED public displays, mobile to high light output, digital cinema projectors, intuitive digital signage software and everything else you need to complete your display solutions. NEC visual display products deliver outstanding image qualit y, boasting leading-edge technology and advanced functionalit y.

Enhance your visual experience with an NEC display solution today.

Learn how NEC can create a solution for you

NEC. The Communications Systems Integrator

www.nec.com.au

AMBIENT CASUAL RamenYa Paramount Centre, 108 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC Story: Ailsa Brackley du Bois

CONTACTS Matt Gibson Architecture + Design (03) 9419 6677 or www.mattgibson.com.au

The design style of RamenYa reflects the owners’ philosophy of serving fresh food in an elegant yet simple setting, providing value for money. Following the success of their first outlet in Melbourne’s heritage GPO in 2007, this second eatery opened in 2011. RamenYa is a casual restaurant specialising in authentic Japanese Ramen noodles in broth. The design brief involved a low cost re-fit of an existing tenancy (previously a bookshop) with distinctive elements that could be replicable for future roll-outs.

40

In keeping with the Southern-Japanese influences from which RamenYa’s noodles are inspired, the conceptual idea references traditional Japanese push-cart stalls (‘Yatai’) which are synonymous with pork-bone Ramen. Key visual and emotive characteristics of Yatai include bright paper lanterns, use of low-cost natural materials and an intimate and informal dining experience. These same elements are interpreted and exaggerated to suit the scale of the RamenYa dining space.

Fortunately a large double height void was discovered above the existing ceiling, providing an opportunity to introduce 120 spherical paper lanterns, suspended in a cloud like arrangement. This visually obscured equipment, provided a low cost, energy efficient lighting solution using compact fluorescent, and added warmth and intimacy within an otherwise cavernous space. The other graphic element utilised was natural timber, characteristic of the ‘feel-good’ factor of Japanese Yatai. Re-salvaged Messmate is locally sourced and economically priced, with a beautiful grain. It was used to clad the main bar and bench, as well as the oversized solid pivot entry door.

Other cost effective strategies which augmented the design intent include a restrained colour and material palette, involving exposed concrete floors, simple black mosaic tiles and the use of restaurant utensils for a feature logo wall. The use of a matt black paint finish throughout assisted in heightening the effectiveness of the lanterns by impersonating the black night sky of the Yatai’s traditional trading time. Mirror cladding on the end wall amplified the impact of the lantern cloud, commanding attention from street level, through its simple sculptural effect.

This ambient interior, sustainable by virtue of its methodology, is simple, honest and cost effective. It provides a strong brand statement and embodies the philosophy of its product, while offering a point of difference within a context of high gloss shopping. RamenYa was shortlisted for the 2012 Australian Interior Design Awards under the hospitality design category and received a judges’ commendation.

R A D I A N T

O U T D O O R

H E A T E R S

Outdoor heating just got hotter

BONGIORNO HAWKINS

+ ASSOCIATES PTY LTD

OCEANSELEVEN

BAR + GRILL

Introducing the new Heatstrip® Max

BAR + GRILL

ARCHITECTURAL + INTERIOR DESIGN

• High temperature output – perfect for higher ceilings or hard to heat areas • Unique low-glow element technology – an innovative incoloy heating element produces a very gentle glow and is vandal and shatter proof – no more replacing of elements or ruining your customer’s outdoor experience with a blinding light • No need for permanent overhead protection – ideal for smoking areas, beer gardens, courtyards etc • Commercial grade quality & construction – full 2 year warranty • Australian designed, engineered & assembled

Heatstrip Classic

LEVEL 2, SUITE 208 43 MAJORS BAY ROAD, CONCORD 2137 27 Rosalie Street, Springvale VIC 3171 Australia t: (03) 9562 3455 f: (03) 9548 3979 e: sales@thermofilm.com.au www.thermofilm.com.au

P:02 9736 2800 E:ADMIN@BHAA.COM.AU

WWW.BHAA.COM.AU

42

SI, SI, SENIORITAS Senioritas 16 Meyers Place, Melbourne VIC (03) 9639 7437 or www.senoritas.com.au Story: Lucie Robson

CONTACTS Lombard and Jack www.lombardandjack.com Treeline Construction Fibonacci Stone: 1300 342 662 JMH Furniture Solutions: (03) 9416 4412

Senoritas is a little restaurant in inner-city Melbourne showcasing some intriguing and intricate interior design from boutique firm Lombard and Jack, made up of Kathryn Lombard and Jackie Johnson. Owner and Mexican entrepreneur Ricardo Amare wanted diners to have a full “experiencia Mexicana” and the designers went above and beyond to create a brooding, lush space full of “feminine whimsy and dark, mysterious spirit”.

Dark wood furniture and floors contrast with pale walls, an abundance of crucifixes and some quirky artworks celebrating women in Mexican culture, particularly with the image of La Catrina. “La Catrina is Mexico’s grande dame of death,” say Kathryn and Jackie. “Catrina symbolises not only El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead Celebration) but the Mexican willingness to laugh at death itself.”

Senoritas is also a gallery, of sorts. The owners of Senoritas collected all the original artefacts on trips to Mexico to lovingly decorate their venue.

Some, like including traditional molcajets, used to create guacamole and salsas, and Talavera pottery from Puebla, demonstrate pre-Hispanic cul-

tural traditions. Modern Mexican design is represented, too, in a life-sized La Catrina from Pineda Covalin (Mexico’s own Hermes), tiles (sourced from Fibonacci Stone) hand-painted by Melbourne artist Aaron McKenzie, the mirrored interpretation of a Diego Rivera mural by Dennis Ropar, and photographer Yenny Huber’s representation of La Catrina through the lens of her vintage camera.

The distinctive graphic design defining the image of Señoritas, La Catrina, was created by Mexican design firm La Metropolitana.

“Our favourite piece of the design is the Lombard and Jack custom designed felt pendant light fittings [felt manufactured by Jan Flook], which were inspired by the colourful traditional skirts of the Mexican Senoritas,” say Kathryn and Jackie, who collaborated with Treeline Construction on the venue. “We love the moody, evocative, candlelit interior.” They add that the limited space and lack of rear entry created design challenges around disabled access, constructing a commercial kitchen and attaining natural light. The space was previously a windowless book storage facility.

Holding the Quay Park Hyatt Sydney, 7 Hickson Road, The Rocks NSW (02) 9256 1234 or sydney.park.hyatt.com

CONTACTS BARstudio: (03) 9662 2669

If the most important aspects of a property is ‘location, location, location’ then Sydney’s Park Hyatt – perched on Circular Quay opposite the Opera House – has an unassailable advantage on all three counts.

That said, coming to the end of the noughties, Park Hyatt was beginning to feel a tad tired and dated.

Not content with a ‘softly, softly’ rolling refurb, Hyatt management bit the bullet and closed its rooms, spa, restaurant and bars for most of 2011 to undergo a complete rebuild.

Park Hyatt Sydney now features three rooftop suites built on a new fourth level, boasting some of the world’s best views of the harbour and the city’s largest suite (350sqm and $20k+ a night).

BARstudio was engaged to create a new intimate and stylish interior for all the 155 bedrooms. Floorto-ceiling glass doors open onto spacious private balconies for most guestrooms; custom-designed lighting and new natural tone furnishings and fixtures enhance the indoor/outdoor lifestyle the Park Hyatt celebrates.

The new restaurant, The Dining Room, is led by Australian born chef, Andrew McKee (Aqua Luna, Radii, Botanical). Again, the position and views are beyond compare, and the modern Australian cuisine is delighting hotel guests and foodies alike. It’s very Sydney, and The Dining Room has become quite a destination.

43

44

Shabby chic at its finest at Bite Club House, created by Debra Cronin Design.

BEST KEPT SECRETS

Underground, flash, guerilla and pop-up are hot dining concepts right now, but only the cool people need know, and even they should be kept guessing at least half the time…

Story: Heather Barton Bite Club House George Street, Paddington NSW www.biteclubhouse.com.au/

T

he ‘Pop-up’ is an onomatopoeic concept. It does exactly what it sounds like it should do. It pops-up, surprisingly, Jack in the Box style and is then gone again. The pop-up concept and its variations — underground, flash and guerrilla — in dining, shopping, bars, galleries and cinemas, is thought to be a relatively new one.

In fact, it, has echoes of everything from the restaurants traditionally run in peoples’ homes in Cuba (Casa de Cuba) to the London-based shop that artists Sarah Lucas and Tracey Emin opened for six months in 1993 (making and selling mugs and ashtrays), to John Polson’s first Tropfest at the Tropicana Café in Sydney, that same year.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN LA-based company Vacant, claims to have pioneered the broader commercialisation of the concept in retail in 1999, after a business trip to Tokyo, where the directors were intrigued by how consumers would queue to purchase limited edition products from niche retailers. Once the products were sold out, usually within a matter of hours, the store would be closed until the owner received more products and would then reopen the store.

This led Vacant to think about closing a store permanently after the merchandise has been sold and moving it to another targeted destination, since consumers were travelling long distances to these niche retailers to purchase desirable products.

Since then the pop-up trend has evolved, turning into a useful tool for real estate companies and landlords looking to lease short term real estate in a down turned economy, and has bred the house-swap phenomenon and companies like Air B&B, where people rent out their own properties styled for travellers as an alternative to hotels. The concept has even extended to resorts, with the first pop-up resort at Papaya Playa in Tulum Mexico launched recently, with another on Mykonos in Greece, and more planned including the re-incarnation of Papaya Playa as a popup Ashram next year.

SNARING CONSUMERS The concept can, quite literally, ‘pop up’ anywhere, defined by an element of surprise, instilling a sense of urgency in normally passive consumers or shoppers — who now must have whatever that venue is offering because it is available for a limited time only.

By opening a shop for instance, for a few weeks, com-

panies get a brief glimpse of how the consumers in that area will receive a brand or product. They can try out a new store location to see if the kind of people they want to attract will start flocking there before investing in a permanent site or they can try out new services, deliver them direct to the customer, promote a new brand, or re-invigorate an older brand.

Thanks (or otherwise) to the GFC I, and then II, shop space has become more affordable and readily available. It’s now relatively easy to grab somewhere that has high footfall at a reasonable cost for a short period of time. Especially given that in places like the UK it’s estimated that 13 percent of all shops are currently empty — and that one in five of those may never be used again.

Pop-ups can make more intensive use of urban space for social events and impromptu gatherings, bringing life to under-used spaces and can also aid consumerism, where brands create a stage setting, adding colour and texture to create a festival like atmosphere.

ARTY ORIGINS While pop-ups were once a way for artists to subvert empty urban space, they’re now just as likely to be part of a corporate marketing strategy. Transparency is essential however. Nothing turns people off more than feeling duped by faux grass-roots activities that are actually marketing ploys.

UK artist, Dan Thompson, set up his first pop-up gallery with friends in a bakery in Worthing in 2001; he now runs The Empty Shops Network where he advises artists who hope to start projects in one of the country’s many disused high-street stores.

He said, “I love the fact that such a daft idea, started by artists, has taken over. I went to a pop-up Gucci put on. It was fantastic. It’s like Quentin Crisp said: ‘Don’t keep up with the Joneses, drag them down to your level.’

We’ve completely subverted all these great brands, who are now having to think differently, more creatively, and that has to be good for our town centres.”

Where artists go, corporations follow. And so does gentrification, as previously neglected areas blossom, flourish and improve — and rents subsequently head skywards. To maintain the diversity and vibrancy that attracted people in the first place, subsidised housing and creative space is essential in retaining the character of a place and the talent that created it. The City of Sydney’s Space for Creativity is one project that attempts to do just that. The pop-up concept still has more mileage in it yet, we suspect.

45

46

Dining at the long table in the Bite Club House is a sought-after experience — you can see why.

GOING UNDER GROUND Underground dining is another variation on the theme, and the success of Sydney’s Bite Club (now known as Bite Club House) illustrates this well. Australian Debra Cronin came back to Sydney after a decade in London and discovered she’d have to take a huge backwards step in her career if she wanted to work here. The industry just wasn’t big enough to support the calibre of career she’d had as a makeup artist in London and all her contacts were overseas.

Cronin decided to segue into interior design, so undertook a degree. Having renovated places in London and Bondi, she set out to find a place she could establish as a ‘location house’ for magazine shoots to help fund the property and as a way of networking with the local design industry — clever, lateral thinking type that she is.

HISTORIC ENVIRONS She eventually came across the perfect place on George St in Sydney’s Paddington, on the edge of Woollahra — that’s if ‘perfect’ means completely uninhabitable and not actually for sale. Built in 1885, the large Victorian terraced house was originally home to a Mr and Mrs Cooper, a wildly eccentric couple who owned around 400 other properties in the area.

Cronin said, “Upon Mr Cooper’s death in the house in 1924, Mrs Cooper immediately moved out, boarding up the property and using it only for storing building materials from that day on. The property began to gradually fall into disrepair over the coming decades through lack of use and neglect.

“In the aftermath of her husband’s death, the widow Cooper lost 50 per cent of their combined estate to the Crown when it transpired that her marriage to Mr Cooper had not been legally binding. So to protect her remaining share Mrs Cooper founded a medical foundation to leave her properties to.”

QUIRKY DEALS Fast forward to March 2009 when Cronin discovered this grand old revival in her search for a home for her interior design business cum location house. Though derelict and abandoned, she realised the house had perfect bones and saw enormous potential to restore the property whilst retaining its beautiful crumbling appearance, and transform it into a home and office.

“I pursued the landlord (from Mrs Cooper’s medical foundation), and found that as a protected property it could not be bought, but I arranged to let the property provided I be allowed free rein to renovate the house as I wished, in return for a gentle rent and a generously long lease.”

While Cronin’s friends advised against such a mad scheme she pushed ahead with demolition, rebuilding and decorating, patronising auction houses in the hunt for obscure decorative treasures and oversized pieces of furniture. Within four short months she had breathed fresh life into the house and restored it to glory in an eclectic fashion.

CHANCE ENCOUNTERS In the meantime, she also acquired two large shaggy dogs, Rose and Ted, who look like Wolfhounds but are in fact Groodles, and in the process of walking them struck up a friendship with fellow dog lover and chef, David Speck.

David had been working as a chef in New York before moving to Sydney’s Otto on Woolloomooloo Wharf. He’d become disenchanted with the hours and lack of a social life and gone into selling commercial kitchens instead.

Cronin needed a freestanding kitchen for the property and while discussing this, along with their shared passions for food and design, not to mention dogs, they hit upon the idea of creating an underground dining club. Within months they had co-founded Sydney’s now not-so-secret underground dining experience: Bite Club. As word has spread, Bite Club has grown into a successful venue for private dining at the rambling, inspired location. Pitching the venue as offering delectable food within an Alice in Wonderland meets the Addams Family environment has clearly struck a chord with consumers.

PERSONALITY PULL Now, over three years later, the house has been used for countless magazine shoots and campaigns, has hosted over one hundred dinners, cocktail parties, singles nights and a number of fashion, beauty and interiors media launches and also accommodates the office of Debra Cronin Design.

One of the biggest attractions of the Club is Cronin herself. A great raconteur and storyteller, she’s someone you immediately want to spend time with. Not that you’ll get much opportunity these days, as the three facets of the business: the dining club, the location house, and the interior designs consultancy, feed into each other so serendipitously and successfully that she has less time to host the Club. She does however still make time to walk the dogs, because she knows that time investment really does have the capacity to change her life.

SURPRISE ELEMENT Along with the underground dining experience offered by places like the Bite Club, Sydney’s pop-up dining scene is flourishing. Operatives like Table Nosh, Transient Dinner, Minus 8, Secret Supper Society, Secret Foodies and Table Sessions all offer different pop-up and guerilla dining experiences.

Minus 8 for instance specialises in Japanese food offered in secret locations for 12 or so guests in places that have included car-parks and warehouses. Different styles of Japanese cuisine such as Izakayi or Yatai determine the menu, which might also take inspiration for instance from autumn in the mountains, with six dishes from mountain regions across Japan featuring wild ingredients sourced from Minus 8’s Japanese kitchen garden on offer.

Secrecy and surprise are crucial to the pop-up experi-

ence. Secret Supper Society only reveals its location on the day of the event. Secret Foodies, for instance, reveal the concept for the event beforehand but only release the location via text on the day.

EVEN MORE SECRETS Some operations are so secret, the people behind them aren’t prepared to reveal details to the media and will only speak off-the-record. Industry young guns are even staging events in established venues when they would normally be closed on Sundays, and relying on word of mouth and email bookings to fill tables.

If you hear names like Hamish Ingham, O Tama Carey, Hugh Wennerbom or Michael Fantuz, or those of civilians like Bernard Macleod, listen closely.

Suffice it to say the pop-up phenomenon is providing a different perspective on private dining, with many ‘above-ground’ operators looking at ways they might incorporate it into their own business models.

ECONOMIC BLISS Given the pop-up phenomenon allows operators to tap patrons they wouldn’t normally be able to access, while simultaneously reinvigorating or expanding a brand, there’s good reason to do so. It’s kind of like an inexpensive ‘Off-Broadway’ style opportunity to experiment, test the market or present a concept that doesn’t necessarily fit in with the established business model.

Opening a high-end eatery can require as much as a million dollars or more ‘on the table’ whereas some pop-up restaurant options may only involve an investment of a few thousand dollars. Low overheads, no fixed costs and variable set-up options make it a really attractive option for independent investors.

PEOPLE POWER The marketing hype for this sort of venture is often created by consumers themselves, as much as by the proprietor’s PR machine. A little bit of viral marketing can go a long way via social media such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, word-of-mouth partnerships and the generally adventurous foodie culture that exists across the globe now. A wide range of different types of patrons also adds to the diversity of people and conversation at play on the night.

The key driver fuelling the appeal of this pop-up restaurant phenomenon is the expectation and delivery of a truly unique dining experience. Substantial creative freedom can be afforded to the chefs involved.

The oddball atmospherics and unusual venues combine to make the whole thing seem innovative and privileged in a very cool, one-of, ‘you really had to be there’ sort of way. It’s this ‘in the know’ element that is key to the success of the movement. Keeping it fresh is integral and thankfully we don’t think we’ve seen the end of this intriguing trend just yet.

47

48

CONTACTS AAA Shopfitting: (07) 3865 8180 Brand+Slater Architects: (07) 3252 8899 or www.brandandslater.com.au Caesarstone: 1300 279 927 or www.caesarstone.com.au Dulux: 13 25 25 or www.dulux.com.au Fardoulys Construction: (07) 3397 0511 Ironfist by Robert Everingham: (07) 3376 3098 or www.everinghamwroughtiron.com.au Luxaflex: 13 58 92 or www.luxaflex.com.au Pacific Floors: (03) 88256780 or www.pacificfloors.net.au Quarella: 1300 726 469 or www.quarella.com.au SNB Stone: (07) 3630 0001 or www.snb-stone.com The Salvage Company: (07) 3848 6556 or www.salvage.com.au Tile Solutions: 1300 010 765 or www.tilesolutions.com.au

SPRING HAS SPRUNG A bistro, a cooking school, a market-table takeaway, chef's table experiences and intimate catered events all in the one stylish venue.

Story: Julia Langham Spring 26 Felix Street Brisbane City QLD (07) 3229 0460 or www.spring.com.au

B

lame it on the success of MasterChef, our increasing willingness to experience world cuisine or the growing trend for organic produce becoming firmly entrenched in the mainstream – whatever the reason, Aussies are embracing good, honest, locally produced food like never before.

And it’s not enough to cook it all up like George Calombaris: We now want to know how and where it was produced and we are demanding that surf and turf, and their home environments, are treated kindly in the process of getting the food to our plate. We’re having a relationship with the food we put in our bodies, and many would say that this can only be a good thing.

Harnessing this cultural zeitgeist, Le Cordon Bleu and Cambridge University Economics graduate Sarah Hancock had a bold and original vision: to offer a multifaceted season-driven food and wine emporium all in one fabulous city location. Spring Food and Wine was born of this vision and in November 2011 opened in Australia’s newest foodie capital, Brisbane.

PRODUCE DRIVEN “I wanted to create a space where people could come to eat and learn, celebrate farmers, taste our bounteous local region, see and hear interesting things, be fascinated by objects of beauty, and meet and connect with interesting, like-minded people,” Sarah explains.

“We are so fortunate in Brisbane to have ‘Australia’s Salad Bowl,’ the Lockyer Valley 200 km west of Brisbane.

It has been named one of the 10 most agriculturally rich regions in the world, and is right at our doorstep.”

She says she was inspired by the fact that marketplaces and farm shops have become increasingly popularised across the UK and France.

49 “The philosophy of understanding the origins of fresh produce, and creating clearer links between the farm and the consumer is taking a stronghold in the UK. It is a philosophy I support and identify with,” she says, citing London-based advocates of this gastronomic movement, such as those involved with the eatery Ottolenghi and tasting cafe La Fromagerie.

LOCALLY SOURCED Spring Food and Wine occupies a compact 330 square metre space under a high rise CBD office block on the corner of Felix and Mary Streets.

In appointing Brisbane based architects Luke Ponti and Olivia Lockhart of Brand and Slater, Sarah insisted the space be neutral, allowing the natural colours and textures of the seasonal produce to really sing. With her genuine interest in design, she also asked them to replicate the environment of the home in a public space.

“The brief was exciting and challenging,” Luke said. “It is not often you have the opportunity to be involved in a project where the underlying passion is the primary motivator, rather than the commercial application.

“Sarah wanted to create an establishment in Brisbane that focuses on the simplicity of quality, seasonal, local produce and the creation of exceptional food.

“The intention was to change the displays and menus to suit the seasons, so the neutral palette is a backdrop to the drama happening inside, at any given time of the year,” he said.

FITTING OUT The venue appears inviting when viewed from the street. A striking handmade wrought iron enclosure (by Australian contemporary blacksmith, Robert Everingham) surrounds the courtyard, creating an in-

50

ner city sanctuary. Laser cut backlit signs align with the black handmade Italian wall tiles and Australian Blackbutt bench seating. Plants spill out over the external dining area.

While the exterior is cloaked with distinguished glossy black tiles, the interior is a celebration of airy lightness with a relaxed ambiance. Extensive use of natural stone, French oak timber floors and stunning Satuario marble exude a sense of warmth and suggest a homely space, akin to a friend’s lounge or dining room.

A major challenge for the designers was the limited physical space available to house four assigned separate entities. Flexibility was the solution. “We made extensive use of screens, in timber, frameless glass and wrought iron,” Luke explained. “This allowed the spaces to be opened up and made larger, or closed off for privacy, depending on what was required at the time.”

The venue is further softened by recycled timber tables, racks and benches, classic Italian brass lights, along with a whimsical array of vintage items collected from Sarah’s travels. The unique selection of kitchen and dining items, tabletop adornments and the range of quality condiments further enhance the gourmet feel.

GREENING UP The selection of plant-life and the garden beds built in to the exterior walls add natural touches to the surroundings, and reinforce the pasture to plate ethos.

Plans are afoot to install a kitchen garden branching off the cooking school section, and there are ideas for introducing a garden wine bar for the summer.

“I think that would be a lot of fun,” said Sarah with regard to the future goals.

Judging by the warm reception Spring has already garnered from city-based workers and fans further afield, these next roll-out stages could work a treat.

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

DOWN BY SOUTH WHARF The South Wharf heritage precinct now boasts some of Melbourne’s finest eateries, with yet more to come.

Story: Sophie Gebhardt South Wharf Promenade, Melbourne, VIC www.southwharfpromenade.com.au or info@southwharfpromenade.com.au

52

Details Trethowan: (03) 9421 5448 or www.trethowan.com.au Right Angle Studio: (03) 9417 0003 or www.rightanglestudio.com.au Craig & Karl: craig@craigandkarl.com or www.craigandkarl.com

A

s you walk west along the Yarra, past ‘Jeff’s Shed’, the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre and the Polly Woodside, you get to South Wharf, where the once derelict cargo sheds lining the river have been painstakingly restored, each now housing a distinctive venue and giving Melbourne a number of new feathers in its foodie cap.

Developed by the Plenary Group, each restaurant, bar and café in South Wharf has been carefully selected for the unique flavour it can bring to the precinct, creating a smorgasbord of dining options and experiences.

There is the Tokyo-style sushi and sake of Akachochin, the Bohemian’s Spanish flare, or The Meat Market’s celebration of the Aussie BBQ, to name just a few. Thirteen different restaurants are currently open for business, with more on the way as the Plenary Group continues to add tenants to the remaining sheds.

South Wharf was in the planning stages for nearly six years, with much of that time taken up with the restoration of the heritage-listed sheds. Renowned heritage architects Trethowan (in association with Direct Architects) were engaged in 2005, to oversee the process of returning the sheds to their former glory, something that was no mean feat.

trusses, then moved off site while the wharf was reconstructed and raised by 30 centimetres. Once the wharf was secured, the sheds were put back in place, with as many significant historical elements retained and restored as possible. The original floorboards were lifted for the wharf reconstruction, then cut in half and re-laid, enabling coverage across the expanded footprint. Roller doors and windows were reinstated and the quaint customs cages and offices, with their 19th and early 20th century gadgetry, were rebuilt into a number of the sheds, and are now being utilised as private dining rooms.

SHED LOADS Originally built in 1884, and added to and altered over time to accommodate different uses, the sheds fell into disuse once shipping finally ceased on the Yarra.

In the ensuing years a number of tenants occupied the sheds for a variety of purposes — as entertainment venues, for example — with no single group overseeing or maintaining their appearance or condition. As such, when the Plenary Group took over, each shed was in a wildly disparate state of repair or otherwise, without the sense of their being part of a whole, as was intended when they were first built.

To achieve this vision, each shed had to be dismantled piece by piece, including the massive 19th century roof

FOOD HUB The end result of this lengthy restoration process is a precinct that is both steeped in history and decidedly contemporary. While Trethowan have stayed true to a 1930s iteration of the sheds, in the overall feel and in the exterior colour scheme, each venue has taken a distinct spin on things, enhancing and extending the heritage overlay in unique ways. Running right through the precinct is the South Wharf Promenade branding, created by Right Angle Studio and graphic artists Craig & Karl, which also plays on a 1930s aesthetic and establishes a sense of South Wharf as a whole.

Very little expense has been spared in the transformation of South Wharf into the vital hub of Melbourne

53

food and drinking culture that it is today; it has been, and continues to be, a labour of love for those involved, most apparent in the time that has been taken and the attention to detail that has accompanied the restoration, but also evident in the selection of tenants for the sheds. There is a common theme perhaps, in terms of a respect for quality and the heritage status of the site, but beyond this, what ties the vast range of venues together is an overall commitment to South Wharf as a precinct, a place that is much more than the sum of its parts.

THE BOATBUILDERS YARD Situated next to the Polly Woodside, at the Spencer Street end of South Wharf, The Boatbuilders Yard has become an almost overnight success, capitalising on its unique position right on the waterfront, and the Convention Centre crowds.

Open since September 2011, and one of the first in the South Wharf stable to swing into action, The Boatbuilders Yard offers up a relaxed bar/café style of food, with a mix of European and Asian influenced meals ranging from breakfast through to late night snacks.

With its recognisably Six Degrees interior, featuring a mix of old and new, and an undeniable respect for the heritage of the site, The Boatbuilders Yard is set to become a Melbourne institution, much in the same way as has its sister venue, Riverland.

Co-owner Richie Ludbrook is pleasantly surprised at how the venue has been embraced so readily by the public. “It’s been above our expectations. What we weren’t aware of was that the cold months are peak season for conferences, so we’ve got a lot of trade from the Convention Centre, which is almost the exact opposite of the Melbourne hospitality scene …” And even though it’s been cold, those who’ve been inside all day at a conference are happy to catch some fresh air in the picturesque surrounds of the Boatbuilders’ beer garden.

“So that’s been a surprise for us … the amount of people in from the Convention Centre. But also the amount of local foot traffic we’ve had — the number of people who walk past is quite remarkable. It’s true, I think, that people are just beginning to realise that this area is actually here, and it’s not that far from the CBD … a bit like us! When we first took the place over we thought, ‘what is this part of Melbourne?’”

With a stunning view of the city, unmatched by any other riverside location in terms of scope, sheltered from the wind in winter and cooled by its proximity to water in summer, The Boatbuilders Yard has an enviable position that may account for some of the success it is experiencing. “We’re a bit amazed at how well it’s going,” says Richie. “I mean, we’re trying to find more staff … it’s been that good.”

54

Details The Boatbuilders Yard: (03) 9686 5088 or www.theboatbuildersyard.com Six Degrees: (03) 9635 6000 or info@sixdegrees.com.au

THE SHARING HOUSE The Sharing House, led by renowned Melbourne restaurateur Paul Mathis and with head chef Mark Briggs of Vue de Monde fame, focuses on the European-styled shared plate, and on dining as a predominantly social experience.

The warehouse-like space, with its vaulted ceilings and exposed steel trusses, is warmed by elements of the quirky interior. There’s a Lego brick tiled bar, which is echoed in the tiled yellow and white walls of the open kitchen; a wall of grass turf at one end sets off the white tables and chairs, while at the other, recycled South Wharf timbers connect with the building’s past.

The unique and inviting interior forms the backdrop to a seemingly never-ending array of tantalising dishes to share, from oysters to crab, to corned beef to waygu, and beyond. Casual and relaxed in its preparation, the food centres on the Australian principles of freshness and quality, with a distinctive European flavour and twist.

Details The Sharing House: (03) 9245 9800 or www.thesharinghouse.com.au

THE COMMON MAN The Common Man, as the name implies, is a celebration of and a tribute to the working people who brought Melbourne to life, while also tapping into South Wharf’s history as a hive of shipping activity.

A lively, family-friendly restaurant and bar, The Common Man serves up hearty Aussie fare in a down-to-earth style and atmosphere. The interior, created by Foolscap, is warm and comfortable, inviting patrons to put their feet up, relax, and enjoy the homemade pies, pizzas and classic parmas.

Owner Eddie Muto is dedicated to providing the precinct with a traditionally Australian venue, where new takes on old favourites are the order of the day.

“The whole idea of the Common Man is comfort — comfort in its design and comfort in its food offerings. So we sell a lot of pizzas, which we make from scratch, and of course our pies are really good – the Beef & Burgundy pie is great. And we also do things like curries … People love to see variety on the menu, but the majority of people end up ordering what they’re comfortable with … “ Foolscaps’ interior is also understated, making the most of a mix of earthy textures and colours, and providing a backdrop for a venue that can adapt to changing seasons, staff and clientele. Eddie says, “I always like to keep the design unfinished, to a degree, so that different managers can add their own flare to it, and so you can learn from your mistakes and change the lay out if necessary.”

Given the timing of The Common Man’s opening, with Melbourne heading into the colder months, Eddie says that, “ … business has been consistent. And I think there are lots more opportunities to be had, and business will grow as the area becomes better known. But, all in all, we’ve done really well.”

Details The Common Man: (03) 9696 3774 or office@thecommonman.com.au Foolscap Studio: (03) 9012 6637 or www.foolscapstudio.com.au

55

Leichhardt NSW (02) 9550 0811 > diemme.com.au

diemme V50.indd 1

Your daily hit of

31/08/12 4:43 PM

inspiration

facebook.com/venuemagazine

SOWING SEEDS Seven Seeds’ Mark Dundon and Bridget Amor invite you to love the coffee you’re drinking, without getting caught up in a third wave of hype.

Story: Mark Davie Portrait: Corey Sleap

“I 58

t’s about what’s in the cup,” is all Mark Dundon really has to say about coffee. And if that’s the interview, I’m roasted. He’s got a point though. These days, indie hipster culture is hopped up on too many morning espressos. If you’re not onto the latest buzz phrase: ‘third wave’, siphons, cold drip, it’s as if you’ve no right to even drink the stuff. It’s become less about tasting what’s in the cup, than picking the right single origin off the chalkboard. And Dundon is over it: “Bashing people over the head with all this hipster barista stuff… It just needs to be a good cup of coffee. We find coffee very interesting, but coffee is what it is. It’s not stopping any of the wars on the planet. It’s just f**king coffee! It can be taken into too high an echelon. Where people judge you like, ‘f**k man, what are you doing drinking that?!’”

It seems an odd thing for Dundon to say. Considering a lot of those hipsters would think him some kind of godfather. After all, he was the guy that started back alley St Ali roastery and café, before Sal Malatesta bought it and turned ‘third wave’ upon the city.

Dundon, and his business partner, Bridget Amor, are behind Seven Seeds, the small-ish coffee operation that takes in the Seven Seeds roastery and cafe as well as the inner-city mini-outlet Brother Baba Budan, where there are more chairs on the roof than on the floor, and the most recent addition, De Clieu. I say ‘smallish’, because Dundon and Amor manage to keep their operation looking inviting and individual despite employing 70 staff and working their way through that transition period from small to medium business. But the reason their outfit feels so identifiable is because Dundon and Amor put the highest importance on relationships, most noticeably between the coffee and their customers.

For the record, the guys at Seven Seeds aren’t too enamoured by ‘third wave’. Not least because to them it engenders a certain amount of ‘wankiness’, but mainly because the term, originally devised by American Nick Cho, doesn’t really work when applied to Australia.

Cho used it to describe the entrance of espresso into the mainstream market in the US, instead of the standard drip. Because espresso has been the main coffee process over here for decades you can see the confusion the term creates. In Australia, ‘third wave’ is applied to the emergence of a trend towards single origin and single estate coffees, rather than the reliance on blends. But if you were to drop the term into conver-

sation internationally, they’d think, ‘oh this espresso thing is catching on in Australia’. When it’s really all we’ve ever had. “I don’t particularly like the term,” said Dundon. “To me, ‘third wave’ conjures up a lot of hype.

As I was saying before, it’s got to be in the cup. Getting charged $12 for a cup of coffee that tastes really bad, just because it’s ‘third wave’ doesn’t help anyone. I worry about these buzz words. Because realistically the objective for us is to tie the farmer directly to here. A really close link.”

PLANTING A SEED Seven Seeds sits on the fringe of the CBD, in a warehouse, down a back street. And it’s packed — often. It’s prototypical of Melbourne’s laneway culture of discovery — without the shelf life. If you enter via the front door, you’ll see coffee plants. And at a glance you’ll notice a few things about coffee. Firstly, there’s bugger-all of a crop, and secondly, it’s really tough stuff to grow — as evidenced by the tree that’s not looking too flash.

They managed a harvest last year. The final haul was 20 grams, which made a couple of cups, not really enough to keep an empire churning. But it served a different purpose for the staff at Seven Seeds. For all of them, it was a chance to realise the grind they dump out of a group head into a bin is handpicked, a really small harvest, and not just something that comes out of a bag.

“It’s good for the staff in terms of wastage and appreciating the product,” said Bridget. “It’s a lot of work for it to end up in someone’s grinder.”

This social experiment isn’t limited to the staff. In the middle of the warehouse is the cupping room. It’s where you can check out other people and staff can experience cupping sessions. The room is walled by glass, and on display. Looking straight through the cupping room, you can also see the roasters in full swing. Nothing is hidden. The journey from bean to cup on display.

THE COFFEE EXCHANGE The reasons this ode to coffee appreciation doesn’t feel forced or cliché are two-fold. Firstly, Dundon, the green bean maestro of the two, had to learn the coffee business from scratch and is inclined to pass that knowledge on. Secondly, Seven Seeds doesn’t just import beans to roast, or go on the odd coffee buying excursion, but has an integrated relationship with most of the farmers that grow and harvest those beans. Just

59

Dundon and Amor having a couple of cups in the cupping room.

Seven Seeds, Carlton: amazing coffee, no bull.

60

recently they had Felipe, their Brazilian contact, out ing to become more expensive. “It’s as simple as the So when you look at the cost to the farmer, and profit here working for three months at Seven Seeds. It’s a third world, specifically Central Americans, becom- margin on their coffee, that direct trade relationship cultural exchange, mirrored when the Seven Seeds ing middle class,” said Dundon. “The kids don’t want is hugely more effective then it is with Fair Trade. We team go visit the farms. to pick coffee anymore, they’d rather go and do some- have Fair Trade close by to us here, and a lot of the “Pretty much all the coffee that we get in is from peo- thing else. It’s on the way out in some areas. There’s time they ask, ‘why aren’t you using Fair Trade?’ So we ple we know or people we visit,” said Dundon. “There a bit of a re-invigoration, with some younger people get Felipe over to speak to them. are some exceptions to that rule from a government going back and starting to farm. There’s a couple of “It’s a very effective thing for a client to talk to a farmpoint of view. Ethiopia and Kenya have an auction really good names that are doing some great things er. They’re usually taken aback. They’re expecting a system. It’s fairly hard to get directly back to where slave. And that’s a lot of the marketing behind Fair the coffee is actually from. We have Raul, our GuateTrade — if you’re not using Fair Trade coffee, then malan guy coming out for a couple of months to see you’re employing slaves. Which is one of the things what happens here. And we’ve got a couple of people we really disagree on. over in Brazil at the moment with Felipe. It’s a fairly “There’s quite a separation in the market at the mogood exchange.” ment between commodity and specialty coffee. PeoSo while the visits to Brazil or Guatemala might yield ple are prepared to pay.” better storage programs, or farming practises, the opLEGAL DRUGS portunity for guys like Felipe to see the coffee at the Dundon has always had this small market approach end of the chain helps them see the effects of their since his first café, Ray. Before Ray, he’d opened a processes. Dundon: “Felipe’s cupping is with smaller bar called Troika, with a couple of fine art student roasts, to try and really push the coffee and present it friends. It was his first move into legal drugs, which in a positive light. It’s great, but it’s a different equahas worked out as a pretty good business plan ever tion coming over here and having 300 bags of it, put since. But after a couple of years of 4am finishes, it in blends, and really make it adapt to what we’re doing with it here. So it was a really big learning ex- with coffee. But you’ve got to pay good money for it, a desire to start a family with his wife led him to perience for him to see that side of things. It’s actually because they’re the same as us, and they’re not going launch a café in Brunswick. “There really wasn’t anything there at that stage. So we built a little place made a positive impact on our business to be able to to do it for 17 cents a day. get him to look at exactly what farming practises he “If you go to some of the growing regions in Panama, in Victoria Street. It was hardcore Brunswick poapplies, and storage and processing, so we can get the which are beautiful, there’s competition from Ameri- sitioned somewhere between a pisshead pub and most out of it back here. That two months of checking can retirees buying condos and holiday houses down a railway line. A lot of people said, ‘what the f**k out exactly what we’re doing and being involved re- there. So for farmers, the decision becomes, ‘do I are you doing?’ And when we opened it took a little ally hammers home to him how we treat the product, sell to a development for this amount of cash, and while to get going, but it was really appreciated by and all these people who drink it. It’s a positive thing.” take the money and run? Or do I continue to farm?’ the community. Two months after we opened it was “It was great to have him here at the time we brought They’re all business oriented and to grow coffee there full Saturday and Sunday. It was small, simple, and we used a lot of local producers — Istandbul Meats, in his coffee as well,” said Bridget. “Everyone was talk- is expensive. ing about his coffee, it was out on Twitter. It was great “I took a photo the other day at the local supermarket and Mohammed & Ali were our fruiterers. So the for him to see the product of his family run business and I just can’t get over it. They’re all under $10 for café was a really good introduction to food on Syd250gm. If you do the maths on the coffee that’s go- ney Road, without going putting Instanbul’s goat on on the other side of the world.” ing in there, the cost of production would probably the menu.”

MIDDLE CLASS WAVE IN THIRD WORLD be somewhere around 25%. Prices for specialty cof- Taking the same approach with coffee wasn’t really That exposure to the people appreciating the product fee vary from $6/pound, down to $3/pound. One par- going to work. Not just because it’s primarily grown is crucial. Because while coffee has long been viewed ticular coffee, Esmerelda, sells from $25/pound, up to internationally, but also because there weren’t many as a Third World business. Things are starting to $70/pound. I don’t know what the Fair Trade price is people around that would let Dundon in on how to go change. And according to Dundon, coffee is only go- at the moment, but it’s probably not above $2/pound. about it. “The difficult thing with coffee was that the

“To me, ‘third wave’ conjures up a lot of hype…It’s got to be in the cup”

HEATRAY HEATING SOLUTIONS integrated radiant heating systems designed for all environmental conditions.

INTELLIGENTCUSTOMISEDENERGYEFFICIENT melbourne 2 Powlett Street Moorabbin VIC 3189 T +61 3 9555 3667 F +61 3 9555 9723

sydney 7/76 Reserve Road Artarmon NSW 2064 T +61 2 8436 7200 F +61 2 8436 7211

www.celmec.com.au

info@celmec.com.au

venue_ad_130812.indd 3

Noise Complaints?

13/08/12 12:03 PM

problem solved The Jbn Sound Ceiling speaker system Providing sound solutions in venues around the world ~ Indoor and Outdoor ~

www.jbn.com.au / 0409 931 704 / sales@jbn.com.au

The Intelligent Sound System

The Beach Hotel - Albert Park • Mansions - Adelaide • Woolshed - Docklands • Gilligans - Cairns • Burswood Casino - Perth • Dust Till Dawn - Hong Kong • PJ 0' Briens - Cairns Envy - Surfers Paradise • Felix Bar - Melbourne • Sky City Casino - Darwin • Stamford Grand Hotel - Adelaide •Cypress Lakes - NSW • Boracay Regency - Manilla The Doutta Gala Hotel - Melbourne • Africa n Club - Tokyo • Curly's Bar - Tasmania • The Queenslander Hotel - Bundaberg • A Bar Called Barry - Balcony Bar O Malleys Irish Tavern - Mildura • The Australian Hotel - Canberra • The Loft - Melbourne • Court House Hotel - Port Douglas • Station 59 - Melbourne • Pastoral Hotel - Dubbo The George Hotel - Ballarat • Bullion Bar - Outdoor Nightclub • Lamana - Port Moresby • Moorebank Sports - NSW • Campbelltown RSL - NSW •Felix Bar - st Kilda

Pull up a stool at Brother Baba Budan… if you can reach one.

62

“Coffee is going to get more expensive.

It’s as simple as the third world becoming middle class. The kids don’t want to pick coffee anymore”

overall advice was, ‘just use the yellow bag dude. Don’t worry, it’ll all be okay.’ But I was worried. I really wanted to find out about it and see how it worked.

“There were a few roasters back then. There was the Coffee Company in Balaclava, there was Cisco’s in Prahran, and a few little guys. It was still pretty old school, and they weren’t barista-led. Even though I’m old, I’d been a barista at Ray, so I had come through that younger ranking. So I had to go to The States and find out about cupping, and all that stuff for myself. There was no information, or real learning process here. It was either, ‘we’re not going to tell you anything’, or, ‘it’s too hard, you’ll burn everything, and it’ll cost you huge amounts of money’. Thank goodness stupid doesn’t hurt, because I just ignored it.

“So then I had St Ali. I didn’t have a lot of cash. I built a lot of it myself. We had to select a site that was not retail, but industrial, and in an area that had a zoning we could use as retail. We looked around a lot to find somewhere that fit the bill. We set up St Ali to showcase that you could roast coffee and approach it differently to the way it had been approached before.”

THE BUSINESS OF GROWING UP Eventually Dundon and Amor sold St Ali to help start Seven Seeds. “We’d made some mistakes at St Ali in the setup and design from a roasting perspective, and storing green beans,” said Dundon. “So we thought we’d sell and get some cash to do the next thing and do it properly.” And they’ve got it so right that things are going to have to change at Seven Seeds — they’re going to have to get a bit more ‘business’ about it. “It doesn’t mean we need to change any ideals, or the way we actually run our businesses,” said Dundon. “It just means we need to put things in place so we’re not spending as much time on people not being able to turn up to work.” The stuff that Dundon confesses he’s “terrible at”, which is where,

like all good partnerships, Bridget picks up the slack.

Dundon: “Bridget can organise a really good team. She holds the place together, leading by example in regards to attributes and goal objectives. And really making everyone else feel guilty about not working correctly. If someone’s whinging about something, she’ll just get out there and do it.”

And if Dundon had any parting words of advice for the average café, they would be: “Aim higher. Business is a very interesting thing. A lot of people just think they’re good at it. We spend a lot of time on training. You really need to spend a lot of time on anything. Understanding it, and perfecting what you do. I’m not a natural coffee guy. It’s taken a lot of time and money to go over and learn. With cafés, there are a lot of classic cases of, ‘I’m just going to buy this business from my brother.’

Realistically, there’s nothing more difficult than preparing espresso coffee. I have a degree in applied science, and looking at it from a scientific point of view, it’s a mindf**k. You’ve got so many things changing. Someone that’s on the machine needs to be really good at what they’re doing. And intent on what’s going on to keep it in the zone. In the scheme of things, those top baristas should be getting paid more for what they do.

“There was an interesting article about a guy who worked as a barista while he was studying law. And he ended up moving into law, but far enjoyed being a barista because of that constant interaction and change that made an instant impact on all those people around him. Even though it’s a café, sitting in an office looking through legals to find if there’s a problem just didn’t have the same impact for the person as doing this. It seemed like he was doing more for society. It sounds bizarre, but from my point of view, I can see it.”

And keeping above commodity and Fair Trade coffee prices can’t be hurting either.

Subscribe Now & Save!

Save a packet on a yearly subscription by acting now

Control Contractor 60 Series

Control Contractor 50 Series

Control Contractor 40 Series

COMPLETE COVERAGE

for your next project.

High Performance Meets High Refinement The professionals choice for over half a century

subscribe online: www.venue.net.au

No matter where you go in this world, you’ll find JBL Installed Sound Speaker Systems at many of the most notable venues. With that kind of global perspective, JBL has come to respect the one indisputable truth of business: every customer is unique. A speaker system that is perfectly right for one job might be perfectly wrong for another. That’s why JBL Installed Sound products offer a range of options

Distributed by

jands.com.au

without equal. From the extraordinary value of the Control Contractor Series to the ultimate precision of the JBL Precision Directivity Series, there’s a JBL Installed Sound product with a solid business solution based on equally solid business savvy. For more than 60 years, JBL has been the professional speaker of choice wherever sound matters. We’d like to believe it should be your choice, too.

64

1

COOL & CRISP 11 Inch Pizza Shop 8 Village St, 737 Bourke St, Docklands VIC www.pizzamelbournecbd.com.au Story: Ailsa Brackley du Bois Photographer: Michael Kai

CONTACTS: Zwei Interiors Architecture: (03) 9696 3104 or www.zwei.com.au 1

S & M Mobilia (Stools): (08) 9284 5599 or www.mobilia.com.au

2

Satelight (Pendant Lights): (03) 9399 5805 or www.satelight.com.au

One of Melbourne’s most recent arrivals on the gourmet pizza scene is the striking second generation outlet of 11 Inch Pizza. This Docklands based fast food concept follows on from the owners’ first lane-way venture in Little Collins Street in Melbourne CBD. Zwei Interiors Architecture were briefed to deliver a commercial design look suited to the discerning business clientele of the precinct. Using the existing 11" branding as the starting point, the Zwei team state that “The design incorporates playful referencing of a traditional takeaway food outlet and a bold interior, enlisting simple colours and graphic forms.”

The bold visual referencing of 11" across the feature wall forms an assertive and highly effective typographic brand statement for the business, using ply cut-outs and repetition. A neon logo sits proudly above the graphic wall, intentionally reminiscent of a luminous fast food outlet, within a highly design conscious context.

With plywood lined walls and chunky geometric edges, the space looks clean, urban and even slightly Japanese in its design influences. The creative use of sustainably sourced wood clearly enables versatility of application and helps

achieve a definite sense of modernity. The plantation grown Queensland hoop pine was minimally treated with sealant only, ensuring that the plywood can easily be reused at the end of its lifespan in this location. A stripped-back approach was also applied to the exposed ceiling, allowing the natural light from the shop-front to maximise the sense of space.

The black topped Naoshima stools designed by Emiliana, and sourced from Perth-based S & M Mobilia, complement the look beautifully, with wooden legs that replicate the angles of the wall embellishments. The staggered placement of the lighting selection from Melbourne-based Satelight's Aëon Illumination collection is also well executed. The Aëon Nord and Nord XL pendant lights combine to highlight the communal table and the bar seating across the front windows.

The service area is illuminated by a zesty lime ceiling and vertically angled decorative 'fins'; elements that break the otherwise prolific use of black in that area. The effect is enlivening and the overall design result suitably cool and crisp; perfectly appropriate for a thin crust gourmet pizzeria offering quality fresh food to busy urbanites.

)

BEYOND

SMALL )

GO ABOVE &

CAN ENVISION

A ND EVERYWHERE YOU

●

FROM NOW SOUND ● CAN ● BE ● HERE WAY OVER

((

❮❮❮

2

THERE

SO SCALABLE, SO CONFIGURABLE. SO POWERFUL. THIS IS ENTERPRISEWIDE MEDIA MADE SIMPLE. IF YOU CAN DREAM IT, YOU CAN DO IT WITH TESIRA.

Sound On A Whole New Scale™ The first truly scalable media system for digital audio networking using Audio Video Bridging (AVB) — Tesira delivers smarter system modularity, breakthrough performance and boundless expansion potential, with: •

Modular scalable I/Os, DSPs and networked end-points

•

A scalable digital media backbone (AVB)

•

Up to 8 DSP cards in a single chassis

•

Up to 420 x 420 digital audio channels

Tesira means unprecedented power, scalability and sound quality.

Best of all, Tesira means future-proofing, here and now.

All backed by Biamp’s legendary 5 year warranty.

Prepare to play on a whole new scale.

Scan the QR code or visit www.biamp.com.au to open the doors to unlimited potential in the new interactive Tesira microsite

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call 1300 13 44 00 or visit www.biamp.com.au

2

66 1

3

COME & GET IT! Epicure Kitchen Cafe 549 St Kilda Road, Melbourne VIC (03) 9269 7722 Story: Christopher Holder

CONTACT Hecker Guthrie (Interior Architects): (03) 9421 1644 or www.heckerguthrie.com FCA (Kitchen Consultant): (03) 9887 6628 or www.fcaonline.com 1

MAP Furniture (Stools): (03) 8598 2200 or www.mapinternational.com.au

2

Forest for the Trees (‘Blond’ Pendants): (02) 9906 1705 or www.forestftt.com.au

3

Fibonacci (Floor Tiles): 1300 342 662 or www.fibonaccistone.com.au

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to manage a brand new retail food concept. The good news is: you will be able to draw on the expertise and resources of one of the country’s biggest corporate catering companies (Epicure). The bad news is you’ll be positioned on the ground floor of your parent company’s HQ (Spotless Group), where the CEO, General Manager of Food, licensing experts et al, will scrutinise your every move on a daily basis.

the Hecker Guthrie design.

Driving the concept is Jacquie Scammell, General Manager, Retail Strategy & Development, and she talked to venue about how Epicure Kitchen Café is subtly but fundamentally different to your run-of-the-mill sitdown sandwich bar.

Clearly, Leigh Neville, Manager of the Epicure Kitchen Cafe is a brave man, as this is his daily cross to bear. Far more than a staff cafeteria, there’s a tremendous amount riding on getting the Kitchen Cafe formula right. If Epicure can successfully marry its knowledge of what busy business people like to consume during the day, with an informal, friendly and, crucially, quick counter service, chances are they’ll have a template they can roll out around the country.

“Epicure Kitchen Cafe is for people on the run, who want a ‘grab and go’ option, but in an environment that allows them to sit and relax for a time. All the food is made that day, fresh on the premises, and we display it such that it’s easy for people to ‘eat with their eyes’. They see what they want, they can see the value in that proposition and they know it’s going to be ready for them in minutes. This approach means we don’t need a long menu board. What you see displayed represents 99% of our output and the menu board provides regular patrons with a handful of signature dishes.”

So, no pressure, then!

PADDOCK TO PLATE

PHILOSOPHICAL

In action, the turnaround from joining the queue to sitting with your meal is less than 10 minutes. And sure enough, the food is fresh and very well presented. The design of the space is equally fresh, honest and welcoming, with a cer-

Everything comes back to a ‘food philosophy’. Epicure’s food philosophy is all about keeping it fresh, sustainable and local. This philosophy underpins the food service and

67

tain exciting bustle about it. High and low tables provide options. A separate coffee bar ensures the morning caffeine rush is well met, while branding detail in the signage and menus ensure a consistency of message.

A private dining room offers another option for Spotless management to roll out the red carpet for key clients, and acts as a tasting test bed for the chefs, where sandwich, salad and muffin recipes are fine-tuned.

The back of house facilities are in full view of the public and even the hospitality ‘newbie’ brought up on MasterChef re-runs will instantly know that this is one pimped-out kitchen. Designed by FCA, the kitchen can easy accommodate the daily lunchtime demands, along with a burgeoning ‘come and get it’ catering sideline for nearby businesses. One still gets the feeling the kitchen is overkill, and proudly so.

Jacquie describes it as a ‘retail playground’ and you can tell she’s enjoying the process of ruggedising the Kitchen Cafe format so if and when the concept is ‘released into the wild’ it will thrive.

1 2

68

MELT CHOCOLATE BAR 124 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW (02) 9747 6358

CONTACTS Matt Woods Design: 0421 848 462 or solid@killingmattwoods.com Inlite: (02) 9699 3900 or www.inlite.com.au 1

Café Culture (Square Stools): (02) 9699 8577 or www.cafeculture.com.au In A Designer Home (Pendant Lights): info@inadesignerhome.com.au

2

Smartstone: 1300 888 607 or www.smartstone.com.au The Art of Tiles: (02) 9565 1066 or www.artoftiles.com.au

“The concept designed itself,” says designer Matt Woods of Melt Chocolate Bar in suburban Sydney – which could not be mistaken for anything else. Once he and his team realised that they should create a space that actually looked like chocolate, the path was somewhat illuminated. “It was a matter of picking apart both the chocolate making process and sourcing finishes and motifs that we felt contained the desired chocolate imagery, be it overt or implied.”

At Melt, chocoholics might be reminded of Willy Wonka’s factory, by the dark brown steel blades that form peaks in the ceiling. There is also a large ‘marble’ bar (marble being traditionally used to temper chocolate), square chocolate-bar geometry in the design of the leather banquette seating and above the seating, cylindrical timbers on the ceiling lined by dimmable LED lighting that look a bit like wafer rolls.

The texture and warmth of the lighting was another important element in creating the aura of melted chocolate. “I love the juxtaposition caused by the angled linear LED strips, which reflect light off the recycled glass mosaic tiles, that run floor to ceiling,” Matt continues. “This in combination with the dramatic contrast between the painted steel blades that support them, is exactly as was envisaged, and one of the key features developed.”

Numerous elements of the finished confection were chosen for their environmental sustainability – the ‘marble’, actually durable reconstituted stone, recycled glass mosaics on the walls, and as much as was possible of the timber. It’s something that is very important to Matt, who is continually researching tree species that should or should not be used. “My specification always calls for timber products that are E0 (emission zero), either PEFC (Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) or FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified,” he says. “I also specify that timber species from rainforests or rainforest buffer-zones are not used in any of the building works and my preference is for Australian timbers grown in plantations or privately owned forests managed on an ecologically sustainable basis.”

“With access to the right information, it’s actually not difficult at all.”

Melt is petite, but makes the best use of its 70 sqm.

“I really dig doing projects of this size and scale,” says Matt. “They are proof that doing a refurbishment doesn’t have to cost a fortune, but with a little bit of creativity you can create environments that are design focused, have a positive impact environmentally, and are just fun places to experience and enjoy.”

THE SOUND OF INSPIRATION

Compact Efficient Powerful Stylish The Indigo series from Void Acoustics is a must have accessory for any modern, visually conscious venue. A range of products created specifically for the new heightened awareness in style that today’s venue designers aspire to.

With a virtually unlimited choice in enclosure colour and texture in an installer-friendly package, the Indigo 6 is the ultimate in audio reproduction for bars, lounges, clubs and restaurants.

You’ve created a beautiful venue… why install an ugly speaker?

Exclusively distributed in Australia by

Many speakers can deliver excellent acoustical performance, only a few of them provide the equal impact visually.

The Satellite range of in-ceiling speakers by Decous Audio is set to change the way you view in-ceiling speakers.

Designed to integrate harmoniously with modern interiors, the directional satellite speakers are available in four driver configurations and three colour options to suit your décor and audio requirements.

T: 1300 859 341

E: info@audiologistics.com.au W: audiologistics.com.au

1

2

4

3

70

kit

Honeysuckle Chooses Bosch

1

Since October 2010, the Honeysuckle Hotel has provided Newcastle Foreshore patrons views of the harbour and a 'chic modern space' in a heritage listed, federation-style wharf shed. The challenges of bringing a new audiovisual infrastructure to this relaxing spot on Lee Wharf C — one that complied with noise pollution restrictions and brought consistent sound levels without exposing electrical components to salt corrosion — were considerable.

Noisebox Entertainment Systems rose to the challenge with a custom-designed solution founded on Electro-Voice Vari Intense speakers, and EV and Dynacord amplifiers all digitally managed with an EV NetMax. This system enabled Noisebox to deliver 'total surround sound' on budget and within the restrictions of a heritage-listed warehouse. Project manager for Laundy Hotel Group, Robyn Gumbley is 'exceptionally happy' with the result: a theatre-like experience that doesn't bother the neighbours.

V Screen Indoor

2

The Indoor V Screen offers exceptional video contrast and superb visual effects. V Screen’s Australian engineering team has developed the indoor aluminium cabinet design for maximum cooling and quiet operation. This hanging or fixed cabinet structure can be customised to fit any installation application. V Screen uses CREE LED, which is manufactured in Japan to ensure the highest standards of colour batching in LED is obtained allowing for brilliant product quality and proven endurance.

J-Distribution: (07) 5599 1551 or www.jdistribution.net

Bosch Communications Systems: (02) 8282 6742 or www.boschcommunications.com.au

Panasonic Builds Wall

3

Panasonic’s new LED 55-inch LFV50 Video Wall features an ultra-narrow bezel for near seamless wall installation and delivers stunning picture quality with 800 cd/m2 brightness. With superb clarity even in well-lit areas, the LFV50 is ideal for a multitude of digital signage, public information and command and control applications in locations such as transportation hubs, retail centres, corporate lobbies and more. Available from next January.

Panasonic: 132 600 or www.panasonic.com.au

SHARP 80-INCH

4

Dubbed by Sharp as the ‘biggest consumer television’ on the Australian market, the new premium 80-inch 3D Quattron LCD TV (LC-80LE940X) will help you recreate the experience of sitting pitch-side at the big game with its ‘unrivalled’ picture quality. This ‘bigger is better’ sized, full HD 3D television offers impressive functionality including an EDGE LED backlight system for even brightness across the screen and 2D TO 3D conversion effect for adjusting the strength of the 3D image. The TV also includes SRS TruSurround and network features such as a Youtube function and Skype compatibility. Price: $10,999.

Sharp: 1300 135 530 or www.sharp.net.au

quality audio solutions

5

6

Hifi Sydney Outlines Intentions

5

The Forum Theatre in Moore Park/EQ precinct (near the Hordern Pavilion) is now The Hifi Sydney. It’s the third Hifi venue and set to ‘live and breath live music’ as per Melbourne (1997) and Brisbane (2009), having played host to the likes of No Doubt, The Strokes, Muse and The Foo Fighters, alongside local treasures Hunters & Collectors, Powderfinger and Paul Kelly. Hifi has taken on sideshows and tour dates for Splendour in the Grass, The Big Day Out, Parklife, Future Music and the International Comedy Festival.

Teaming up with renowned sound engineer Bruce Johnston (Bruce Johnston Audio) over each of the three venues, The Hifi Sydney has now welcomed a tailored fitout with the Ambient Technology team, using Outline PA products, including 10 Line Array Butterflies either side and six Subtech218s — a bigger Outline system that in the two other sister venues. The PA is powered by Outline T Series amps.

range, cost, reliability.

Ambient Technology: (03) 9731 7242 or www.ambienttechnology.com.au

Blokey Bar's JBL Overhaul

6

The 'blokey' and very old (1876) Burwood Inn in beach side Merewether has seen business quadruple on the back of an interior overhaul last year. Featuring a 'sports theatre' setup in the front bar, TAB facilities, a vintage-styled lounge bar area for casual dining and a remodelled restaurant with 'amazing' acoustic improvements the new owners have successfully maintained the pub's historical character and added a relaxed feel for 20 to 30-somethings. All it took was a 64-inch plasma, a series of unexpectedly powerful JBL speakers and subs including a quartet of 1200W car audio subs squeezed into the lounge and restaurant, Crown amplifiers and BSS Blu controllers to make operation of the venue-wide audio system simple for staff. The setup has been so successful, installers Your Vision Sound Solutions have begun offering it to other venues.

Jands (JBL, Crown, BSS): (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au

Pre amplifiers

amplifiers

Mixer amplifiers

surface Mount speakers

iP rated speakers

Music Horns

Paging Horns

constant Voltage Devices

ceiling speakers

to get your hands on this innovative new gear, call: gary Foster - syntec international australia: 02 9910 6700 Dan rowe - syntec international new Zealand: 9263 9885

www.apart-audio.com

1

72

2

3

sit 4

Collaborative Seating

1

New from Konfurb is a range of modular seating for collaborative spaces. Promoting communication, learning and creativity, the seating is intended for various applications such as commercial offices, educational environments, retail spaces and hospitality industry settings. Shape options include Slice, Block, Freeform, Star and Stem. Flexible configuration possibilities are an added bonus of this range. Made with heavy duty inner frame construction, high density soft pile foam and optional contrasting upholsteries, this is a practical, versatile and fun-filled seating collection.

Globe West Pop Stools

5

2

This bright array of woven stools come in this season’s hottest hues, including the Pantone colour of the year — Tangerine Tango! Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, says “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

6

Contempo Tub Time

3

Contempo Furniture designs and manufactures commercial furniture and lighting, specialising in unique metal finishes. Pictured is the Contempo Swivel Tub chair as seen in Hugo's Pizza at Kings Cross. These Swivel Tub chairs are upholstered in Leather and have an aged brass disc base.

Contempo Furniture: (02) 9726 6794 or info@contempofurniture.com.au

Globe West: (03) 9518 1600 or www.globewest.com.au

Konfurb: 1300 857 287 or www.konfurb.com

Porta Venezia Chair

4

This Italian made OMP Infiniti ‘Porta Venezia’ chair, created by Dorigo Design, is exclusive to Cafe Culture on the Australian East Coast. The solid European Beech frame is available in either wenge, natural or white. The back and seat are made of polypropylene, and colour options are white, red, black, light grey, green or yellow.

Bodega Cafe Culture: (02) 9699 8577 or www.cafeculture.com.au

Luxxbox Calcium

5

Designed and made in Australia by industrial designer Jason Bird, this eco-friendly chair is perfect for lounging by the pool or relaxing on the sun deck. The crisp, pure lines of the new Calcium range will inject a refreshing blast of cool into any space, indoors or out. Made of high-density polyethylene derived from 157 milk bottles per chair, it is not only 100% recycled but also 100% UV resistant. Luxxbox trades as OBJX Pty Ltd with a showroom in Brisbane.

Luxxbox: (07) 3310 4767 or www.luxbox.com

Turon Outdoor Dining Furniture

6

Taking design back to basics, the Turon is a stunning combination of simple material and clean form. Fine detailing, such as the brass screws along the Turon chair highlight the craftsmanship, while the galvanized steel frames tell of the strength and durability of this outdoor range. Perfect for commercial use, the Turon takes old school shapes combined with renewable timbers and galvanized steel which have been rubbed back to present a true to form industrial finish. The Turon chair is priced at RRP $349. The matching Macleay dining table is RRP $1499.

Eco Outdoor: 1300 131413 or www.ecooutdoor.com.au

7

8

The Pleat Stool

7

Made from Australian plywood, these strikingly modernist outdoor chairs are available in either natural timber (raw ply), black or white.

Designed by Chris Hardy, the pleat chair is exclusive to Cafe Culture.

(02) 9699 8577 or www.cafeculture.com.au

The Forest Barstool

8

Paris-based international artist and designer Arik Levy created this single Forest barstool that can be clustered together with others to create a family of stools. Resembling a tree in winter, the symmetrical circular base of vertical chrome rods represents the trunk. Short footrests placed horizontally at different levels bring to mind the tree's glistening branches.

Although they might seem arbitrarily placed, these chrome segments customize the stool for different leg lengths. The chrome base holds a seat that swivels 3600. The 1 1/4" thick top is available in solid walnut and maple sealed with a hand rubbed natural finish or other standard finishes. Forest may also be upholstered in any Bernhardt textile or the customer’s own material.

Bernhardt Design: (02) 9669 1788 or www.bernhardtdesignpress.com

3

1

74

lit

Axo Lighting

4

1

Comprised of brand new products and ‘successfully revised designs’, Axo’s 2012 collection of designer lights take cues from nature and traditional arts. Including the striking, flowerinspired Muse Fiori fixtures with metal frames covered by removable and washable elastic fabric for easy elimination of dust and dirt. Axo is also introducing a new line of their ‘breath-taking’, glass Spillray lamps for table top and ceiling including a range of Spillray Chandeliers in various sizes. Also included in the collection: a new Sunshade design that puts a modern twist on a traditional style.

Ilanel Arum

2

Arum is the latest creation to be revealed by Melbourne based lighting design studio ilanel. Based on the striking simplicity of the arum lilly, each 10W halogen blossom has been handcrafted from southern ice porcelain in collaboration with a local ceramic artist.

Arum can be hung individually or grouped to form a ‘sophisticated bouquet’ and retails for $297 each. ilanel: www.ilanel.com

5

4 Fourteen

3

A warm and rustic urban interior welcomes you at 4 Fourteen in Surry Hills, Sydney, made possible, in part, by upward-pointing Aëon Illumination Nord Wall Lights which highlight the exposed-brick feature wall. The lights are finished in a satin off-white and each feature a rotatable head, allowing the lampshade to be used as a decorative spotlight. The Aëon Illumination lighting collection is available through Satelight.

Satelight: (03) 9399 5805 or info@satelight.com.au

Mondoluce: (03) 9826 2232 or mondomelb@studioitalia.com.au

Vari-Lite Spot Luminaires

4

Enlightening App

5

All using the double-ended 1500W lamp that has been so effective and reliable in Vari-Lite’s large format wash luminaires, the VL3015 and VL3515 Spot luminaires feature a 6:1 zoom optics system, while the VL3015LT boasts a ‘mind blowing’ 10:1 zoom optics system. All three luminaires include CYM colour mixing, variable CTO colour temperature correction, gobo/effects wheels, ultra-fast strobe mechanisms and either six-position or dual five-position (VL3515) colour wheels. The VL3015LT luminaire houses a precision glass reflector system that allows the fixture to achieve over 40,000 lumens of output as well as an independent, drop-in armature which rotates, is indexible, and is capable of holding a five-facet prism or included frost glass. The full palette of Vari-Lite gobos, including custom gobos are available for all three lights.

Brightgreen, Australian based designers of LED lighting solutions have combined several of their lighting tools into their first ever iPhone app. If you’re fitting lighting into a new or refurbished space the app can help you calculate the number of lights needed to achieve the required brightness and offer lighting design suggestions. The app can also determine cost versus savings and projected ROI of the specified lighting options including the impact of government rebates in NSW or Victoria. Naturally, Brightgreen has also included a catalogue of their own products on the app with comprehensive technical information about each light to help you in your planning as well as a list of their distributors. For a limited time the app is available free from their website or the iTunes store.

Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au

Brightgreen: www.brightgreen.com/app

75

The MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) market is agog… abuzz even. The Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre (SCEC) is closing down for renovations at the end of next year. What’s more they’ll stay closed for around three years! At the end of that period you’d like to think Australia will have an exhibitions and meetings centre the envy of the world, but it’s going to be like the MICE version of the dark ages during the long wait.

votel Sydney Manly Pacific. Sparkling after a significant refurbishment and rejuvenation program, the 213-room Manly Pacific combines comprehensive facilities for both business and leisure guests with the high degree of comfort and elegance expected of a 4.5star property.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Hotels with sizeable banqueting and convention space are positioning themselves like kids before a class photo in order to attract a larger slice of the MICE pie.

The location is stunning and the F&B options are rather good as well. The newly appointed Executive Chef Ryan Dawson and his team have gone heavy on the organic options — should be enough to get you out on the beach at daybreak for some Pilates.

Somewhere near the vanguard is the No-

The property packs a total of nine refurbished first-class venues available to suit a discrete meeting for 10 to a larger conference for 500 delegates in the pillar–free ballroom.

HAVING A BEACH BALL Novotel Sydney Manly Pacific: 55 North Steyne, Manly NSW (02) 9977 7666 or www.novotelmanlypacific.com.au

Brintons Fringe Takes Centrestage

The Slab BBQ by Ox Engineering

Brintons has launched its latest new range, Fringe — designed specifically for Australian leisure and hospitality applications. Brintons Fringe collection offers specifiers and end users a choice from eight striking broadloom woven Axminster carpets in a sophisticated and on trend colour palette. The collection boasts an eclectic mix of styles: lustrous plumes, gilt-edged medallions and sleek, architecturally-inspired geometrics. Each pattern unites dramatic design with a profusion of delicious colour; electrifying teal, zesty lime green, vintage gold and hot chilli red. Woven in Brintons’ own 80% wool, 20% nylon yarn blend, Fringe is able to withstand the wear and tear of heavy foot traffic and meet the daily needs of a busy contract space. This capsule collection presents a series of floor coverings that are versatile and easy to maintain, continuing Brintons‘ reputation for innovative design technique, technical expertise and exacting global quality standards.

Ox Engineering is the designer and manufacturer of this simple, functional design - a full stainless steel BBQ. Terry Tisdale, OX Engineering owner, says “with the 12mm thick stainless steel cooking surface and weighing over 250kg, this Masterchef’s dream, is guaranteed for two lifetimes. It’s ideal for the corporate balcony or home fine dining.” Also in the comprehensive range is an adaptable exhaust fitting that can be engaged to keep your guests warm, a matching glamorous ice bucket for drinks, a plate warming section, as well as a chopping board island, charcoal grill, and wok holder. Tisdale also says “The ability to be able to control the surface temperature of the stainless steel cooking plate and have hot and semi warm sections makes it possible to control the exact cooking of a range of produce to the perfect cooking time.”

For more information contact Ox Engineering on (02) 9616 7444 or visit www.overexposure.com.au

Brintons: (03) 5226 3200 or www.brintons.com.au

76

commercial edge

Tailor Made

Grand Kitchen Designs

Named for the home of upmarket London men’s fashion, Jermyn Street from Cavalier Bremworth gives more than a passing nod to finely tailored men’s suiting. This herringbone patterned loop pile offers a very versatile option for commercial interiors and the colour palette is designed accordingly. Hard wearing and functional, Jermyn Street has excellent soil hiding properties and is a great choice for high traffic areas.

From five star hotels to convention centres, to Chef Hat restaurants and corner pubs, government institutions and healthcare facilities, Comcater has been behind the scenes in helping to bring many ‘dream kitchens’ to life for over 30 years. Comcater’s Major Projects and Specification division specialises in assisting clients, architects and kitchen designers to choose the right equipment for any commercial kitchen fitout. Comcater’s latest work is showcased in the ultra modern Hilton Hotel in Surfers Paradise, where its equipment range can be seen in the hotel’s main kitchens, The Food Store — European-style delicatessen, as well as celebrity Chef Luke Mangan’s much anticipated Salt Grill restaurant. Comcater worked alongside Foodservice Development International (FDI) which provided the foundations of the project with their professionally designed kitchen plans. Then teaming up with Dave Trevaskis from T&H Sheet Metal in Brisbane where the team delivered a great job in the project’s final finishing touches.

Cavalier Bremworth: 1800 251 172 or www.cavbrem.com.au

Comcater: 1800 035 327 or www.comcater.com.au

Staying Seated With 25 years of experience in upholstery, the team at The Seatery pride themselves on delivering a high quality finish to suit all commercial situations. Working to architectural plans with both architects and shop fitters The Seatery interpret a design brief to deliver stunning results, designing custom upholstery for each location and purpose. Whether it be wall panelling, hospitality furniture or point of sale display The Seatery designs and builds upholstery to fit with architectural themes in venues as diverse as restaurants, clubs, hotels, retail outlets and galleries. The highest quality fabrics, leather and cushioning are hallmarks of The Seatery designs.

The Seatery: (03) 9720 0042 or www.theseatery.com.au

LISTEN

UP!

INSTALLED SOUND SOLUTIONS All eyes and Ears are focused on the speaker and every word is perfectly delivered by Sennheiser’s outstanding installed Sound Microphones. Unwanted sound is attenuated, high intelligibility and transparency make it easy to follow the words of the speaker – the audience is moved.

Heatstrip Heaven Heatstrip from Thermofilm is a high intensity electric radiant heater suitable for tough indoor and outdoor heating applications. Ideal outdoor, undercover applications include smoking or alfresco dining areas, patios, balconies or pavement cafes. Ideal indoor applications include spot heating in factories, showrooms, animal enclosures or any other indoor open areas. Gentle, comfortable, even warmth is felt up to 5m from the source in indoor open areas, or up to 3m from the source in a part open outdoor undercover area.

It’s a highly efficient source of heat and is a stylish, slimline architectural addition. There are four models and a number of options.

Thermofilm: (03) 9562 3455 or www.thermofilm.com.au

This versatile line of condenser microphone heads can be combined with various goosenecks, ceiling, and table mounts.

They are suitable for a wide range of applications, including conference, public address, studio, broadcast, houses of worship, and television production.

For more information: Syntec International Australia: Free Call 1800 648 628 New Zealand: Free Call 0800 100 755 www.sennheiser.com.au

PREFERRED SUPPLIERS ACCESSORIES Allplastics Engineering Pty Ltd www.allplastics.com.au

78

AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATION

BY Architects www.byarchitects.com.au

Cox Richardson

www.cox.com.au Bar Icon Group

Goodwin Design

www.bar-icon-group.com AMX Australia www.goodwindesign.com.au 5 Commercial Drive Enhanced Business Solutions Group GSA Southport Qld 4215 www.enhancedbusiness.com.au www.groupgsa.com (07) 5531 3103 JamFactory

J Audio info@amxaustralia.com.au Jackson Clement Burrows www.jamfactory.com.au Supply and Design www.amxaustralia.com.au www.jcba.com.au Professional Audio Systems Kennards KP Architects www.kennards.com.au (07) 5599 1551 www.kparchitects.com.au info@jdistribution.net Mezzanine Wine

www.jdistribution.net www.mezzaninewine.com.au Marchese www.marchesepartners.com.a PILA Group Acoustica www.pilagroup.com Make www.acoustica.com.au www.make.net.au Raypak Advance Audio Australia

www.raypak.com.au www.advanceaudio.com.au Nicholas Associates Australian Venue Services Pty Ltd www.nicholasassociates.com.au Technogym Atlas Sales & Marketing

5 Saywell Street, Marrickville, www.asmaust.com www.technogym.com Peckvonhartel NSW 2204 www.pvh.com.au Audio Product Group 1300 66 31 66 www.audioproducts.com.au info@a-v.com.au Pikewithers AMMENITIES www.pikewithers.com.au Audio Telex www.australianvenueservices.com.au Dyson www.audiotelex.com.au SixDegrees Architecture www.dyson.com.au Bishop Audio

www.sixdegrees.com.au Jet Dryer www.bishopaudio.com.au SJB www.jetdryer.com.au Electric Factory www.sjb.com.au AV System Consultancy & Design Tradelink www.elfa.com.au Theatre Planning & System Design Squillace Architects+Interior Design www.tradelink.com.au Funktion One Architectural Lighting Design www.squillace.com.au RBA Group www.funkton-one.com.au NSW: (02) 9029 0281 Stanton Creative Group www.rba.com.au Group Technologies sydney@designstage.com.au www.stantoncreativegroup.com.au www.gtaust.com QLD: (07) 3367 2234 Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects brisbane@designstage.com.au Jands

ARCHITECTS www.tzg.co.au www.designstage.com.au www.jands.com.au McGlashan Everist JB commercial www.mearchitects.com www.jbcommercial.com.au Webb Australia

Len Wallis Audio www.webbaustralia.com.au www.lenwallisaudio.com Woodhead Magna Systems www.woodhead.com.au www.magnasys.com.au 2RKS Architecture + Design 2 Winslow Street Max Home JVG Sound Milsons Point, NSW 2061 AUDIO EQUIPMENT www.maxhome.com.au Leaders in AV, Lighting, Hire, T: (02) 8904 0000 Production, Security and MATV McCalls F: (02) 8904 0411 www.mccallsservices.com.au NSW, QLD, NT, VIC, TAS www.2rks.com 1300 584 584 Meyer sound (07) 5599 1222 www.meyersound.com.au Audio Logistics admin@jvgsound.com.au Music Link www.jvgsound.com.au Australian Distributors for: www.musiclink.com.au Altis Lower Deck Jones Bay Wharf Suite 123 / 26-32 Pirrama Road Pyrmont NSW 2009 T: (02) 2 9364 9000 F: (02) 2 9571 7930 info@altisarchitecture.com www.altisarchitecture.com

BERGSTROM ARCHITECTS Suite 103, 3 Eden Street, North Sydney NSW 2060 T: (02) 8920 1499 F: (02) 8920 1599 info@bergstromarchitects.com.au Arkhefield www.arkhefield.com.au Axil Architecture www.axil.com.au

Baenzigercoles

www.baenzigercoles.com.au

Void Acoustics, Audac, Procab, Posh Speakers, Decous & AVM 1300 859 341 info@audiologistics.com.au www.audiologistics.com.au

National Audio Systems www.nationalaudio.com.au Night Works Audio www.nightworksaudio.com.au One Productions www.oneproductions.com.au Pioneer www.pioneer.com.au

CMI Music & Audio T: (03) 9315 2244 F: (03) 9315 2115 36-38 Export Dve, Brooklyn, Victoria, 3012 info@cmi.com.au www.cmi.com.au

Production Audio Services www.productionaudio.com.au Syntec International www.syntec.com.au

AVICO www.avico.com.au Avocent Australia www.connectivity.avocent.com Axiom www.axiompl.com.au Beyond AV www.beyonddav.com.au BE Productions www.beproductions.com.au

TAG

www.tag.com.au

Bose Australia www.bose.com.au

Yamaha www.yamahamusic.com.au

BOSCH www.boschsecurity.com.au Canohm www.canohm.com.au Castel Electronics www.castel.com.au Clipsal www.clipsal.com.au

Clearlight Shows

www.clearlight.com.au

DESIGN

Origin Didier Design www.origindidier.com.au

DJW project www.djwprojects.com.au

Platinum Interiors www.platinuminteriors.com.au

Dynalite www.dynalite-online.com

Quattro Design www.quattrodesign.com.au

EPSON www.epson.com.au

Ryder Hampton www.ryderhampton.com

Herma www.herma.com.au iMatte’sBody of Work www.techtel.com.au Impact AV www.impactav.com.au JBN www.jbn.com.au

MERRILL DESIGN AUSTRALIA REFURBISHMENTS SET DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION Unit 1/9 Whyalla St Fyshwick ACT 2609 (02) 6280 5883 merrilldesign@netspeed.com.au www.merrilldesign.com.au

DISPLAY

Mitsubishi Electric 48 Victoria Rd Rydalmere, NSW (02) 9684 7777 www.mitsubishielectric.com.au

Laser Vision www.laservision.com.au Milestone Solutions www.milestone.com.au Pulse AV www.pulseav.com.au Venutech www.venutech.com.au Video Pro www.videopro.com.au YSI www.soundinvestment.com.au

Paul Kelly Design 77 Bay St. Glebe. NSW 2007 (02) 9660 8299 www.paulkellydesign.com.au

Arcon www.arcon-nsw.com.au

Rohrig www.rohrig.com.au Isis www.isis.com.au James Clifford Construction www.jamesclifford.com.au Liquid Lines www.liquidlines.com.au Paynter Dixon www.paynterdixon.com.au Premier Club Constructions www.premierbuild.com.au Premier Building Group www.premierclub.com.au

V Screen Indoor/Outdoor LED Screens (07) 5599 1551 info@jdistribution.net www.jdistribution.net

TM DESIGN GROUP PTY LTD DESIGNERS TO THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY Studio 5, 11 Beach Street Port Melbourne, VIC 3207 Ian Macklin (Director) 03 9646 9932 0417 147 110 imacklin@tmdg.com.au www.tmdg.com.au

Hitachi www.hitachi.com.au Innovizion www.innovizion.com.au JVC proffesional www.jvc-australia.com NEC www.nec.com.au Panasonic www.panasonic.com.au Philips

Barbara and fellows www.barbaraandfellows.com.au Bleux www.bleux.com.au Dasch Associates www.daschassociates.com D4 Residential & Commercial Design www.d4designs.com.au

Reed Constructions Australia www.reedgroup.com.au

DBI Design www.dbidesign.com.au

Dreamtime www.dreamtimeaustraliadesign.com

UNE Partnerships Facilities Management Frontline Management Project Management 122-132 Mossman Street Armidale NSW 2350 (02) 6773 0000 www.unep.edu.au accounts@unep.edu.au

Kvadrat Maharam www.kvadratmaharam.com Warwick Fabrics www.warwick.com.au

FINISHES

Aquavision www.aquavisiontv.com.au

Quality Project Management www.qpmgt.com.au

COMMERCIAL EDUCATION

Dickson-Constant www.dickson-constant.com

CONSTRUCTION

Gibbon Group www.gibbongroup.com.au

Platinum TV www.platinumtv.com.au FABRIC

Crown Commercials www.creationbaumann.com

Playcom Customised Entertainment Digital Signage systems background music and music video Street 22, 89 Jones St, Ultimo (02) 8815 6600 info@playcom.com.au www.playcom.com.au

www.avico.com.au Samsung www.samsung.com.au

79 INSTYLE CONTRACT TEXTILES Contemporary Leathers Wovin Wall 6 - 8 Ricketty Street Mascot. NSW. 2020 (02) 9317 0222 esales@instyle.com.au www.instyle.com.au Alloy Design www.alloydesign.com.au Armstrong www.armstrong-aust.com.au

Sony www.sony.com.au

Axolotl Group www.axolotl-group.com

Wilson Gilkes www.gilkon.com.au

Bravo print www.bravoprint.com.au

Viewsonic Australia www.viewsonic.com

Caesarstone www.caesarstone.com.au

ENTERTAINMENT

Casf www.casf.com.au Design Room Australia

edge commercial interiors www.edgecommercialinteriors.com.au

Digiglass www.digiglass.com.au

Innersphere www.innersphere.com.au

Dulux www.dulux.com.au

Inset Group www.insetgroup.com.au Joshua Bacon Design www.joshuabacon.com.au Moth Design www.mothdesign.com.au Nexus Design www.nexusdesigns.com.au

Nightlife Music Managed Music, Visuals and Digital advertising solutions For more information call: Phil Brown - National Sales 0404 556 727 phil.brown@nightlife.com.au www.nightlife.com.au

Hot Metal www.hotmetal.biz Hunter Douglas Architectural Products www.hunterdouglascommercial. com.au Interior Art Image www.interiorartimage.com

Academy Tiles www.academytiles.com.au

Laminex www.laminex.com.au

Altro Flooring www.asf.com.au

Liquid Metal Technologies www.liqmet.com

Amber Tiles www.ambertiles.com.au

Llias www.ilias.com.au

Ardex www.ardexaustralia.com.au

Marblo www.marblo.com

Boral Timbers www.boral.com.au

Pet Shop Studio International www.petshopstudio.com.au

Classic Floorcoverings www.classicfloorcoverings.com.au

CF Design www.cfdesign.com.au

Porter’s Paints www.porterspaints.com.au

Dalsouople Australasia www.dalsouple.com.au

Echelon www.echelonproducts.com

DĂŠcor Stone www.decorpebble.com.au

Evostyle www.evostyle.com.au

Designer Rugs www.designerrugs.com.au

Eurofurn www.eurofurn.com.au

FLOORING

Finest international, local and custom-made tiles for the commercial, hospitality & corporate market.

182-186 Parramatta Road, Camperdown NSW 2050 (02) 9550 5204 www.belmondotiles.com.au

DTAC www.dtac.com.au Eco Flooring Systems www.ecoflooring.com.au

Brintons Pty Limited Level 1, 43 Pakington Street Geelong West, VIC 3218 T: (03) 5226 3200 F: (03) 5226 3242

FURNITURE B Seated Australia Leading Supplier & Manufacturer of Commercial Furniture.

7/22 Mavis St , Revesby, NSW 2212 1300 727 637 www.bseatedglobal.com.au

CAFE CULTURE AUSTRALIA 1/1-25 Adelaide Street Surry Hills NSW 2010 Australia (02) 9699 8577

Corporate Culture www.corporateculture.com.au Corporate Express www.ce.com.au

Form and Function www.form-function.com.au Four Two www.fourtwo.com.au

Gadget King www.gadgetking.com.au

Gunnersen Inspirations www.gunnersens.com.au InterfaceFLOR www.interfaceaus.com.au Karndean International www.karndean.com

National Tiles www.nationaltiles.com.au Polyflor Australia www.polyflor.com.au Rms Natural Stone www.rmsmarble.com Rocks On www.rockson.com.au Stone Art www.stoneartaust.com.au Tappeti www.tappeti.com.au Tascot Carpets www.tascot.com.au The Andrews Group www.theandrewsgroup.com.au The Rug Collection www.therugcollection.com.au Tsar Carpets and Rugs www.tsar.com.au

Tappeti Level 2, 13 - 15 Levey Street Chippendale 2008 T: (02) 9698 2735 F: (02) 9698 2788 designstudio@tappeti.com.au www.tappeti.com.au

Comax www.comaxaustralia.com.au

Forbo www.forbo-flooring.com.au

Living Tiles www.livingtiles.com.au

Gibbon Group Innovative, sustainable and high-quality interior finishes (07) 3881 1777 sales@gibbongroup.com.au www.gibbongroup.com.au

Chairbiz www.chairbiz.com.au

Furniture Options www.furnitureoptions.com.au

Contempo Furniture Pty Ltd Design and Manufacturing of Commercial Furniture and Lighting, specialising in unique metal finishes; Metal Spinners and Sheet Metal Fabricators (02) 9726 6794 www.contempofurniture.com.au

Lionco www.lionco.com

Cavalier Bremworth Pure NZ wool carpet More than 30 carpet styles 1800 251 172 mrobinson@cavbrem.com.au www.cavbrem.com.au

Cubus www.cubusconcepts.com.au

Eco Tile Factory www.ecotilefactory.com.au

Godfrey Hirst www.godgreyhirst.com

80

FURNITURE

Interior Decorative Coatings www.idccolourfield.com

Casino Consoles Australia www.casinoconsoles.com.au Whitecliffe Imports www.whitecliffe.com.au

Globe West www.globewest.com.au Great Dane Furniture www.greatdanefurniture.com Hospitality Furniture Concepts www.hospitalityfurniture.net.au Hughes Commercial Furniture www.hughescf.com.au Iken www.iken.com.au

Prototype Commercial Furniture Manufacture, Tailor and Supply Commercial Furniture 31 Paringa Road Murarrie QLD 4217 1 The Crescent, Kingsgrove NSW 2208 1300 799 376 info@prototype.net.au www.prototype.net.au (02) 9698 3802 The Seatery Custom Upholstery Specialist Factory 3, 24 Longstaff Road Bayswater Vic 3153 (03) 9720 0042 enquiries@theseatery.com.au www.theseatery.com.au

Aero Design www.aerodesigns.com.au Blok Furniture www.blokfurniture.com.au BINDI Furn www.bindifurniture.com.au Botton & Gardiner www.bottongardiner.com.au Capital Design Works

www.capitaldesignworks.com.au

Instyle Seating www.instyleseating.com.au Interstudio www.interstudio.com.au Insitu Furniture www.insitufurniture.com.au James Richardson www.jamesrichardson.com.au Jardan Australia www.jardan.com.au JMH Hospitality Furniture www.hospitalityfurniture.com.au Matt Blatt www.mattblatt.com.au Nufurn www.nufurn.com.au PGR Furniture www.pgrfurniture.com.au Pomp Furniture www.pomp.com.au Robert Plumb www.robertplumb.com.au Ross Didier www.origindidier.com.au Schiavello www.schiavello.com Sebel www.sebelfurniture.com Space www.spacefurniture.com.au

Stylecraft www.stylecraft.com.au Tait www.tait.biz Zenith Interiors www.zenithinteriors.com.au

www.pureheat.com.au

FABRICATION

OX Engineering Group Pty Ltd Specialists in architectural metalwork,displays,metal fabrication and Signage 23 Britton St Smithfield NSW 2164 (02) 9616 7444 www.overexposure.com.au

8 Tilley Lane Frenchs Forest NSW 2086

(02) 9977 3474 0414 48 5555 www.climateaustralia.com.au

Solamagic Australia 1 Comserve Close West Gosford. NSW. 2250.

1300 SOLAMAGIC 1300 765262442 info@solamagic-australia.com.au www.solamagic-australia.com.au

J Lighting Architectural/LED/ Stage Lighting (07) 5599 1551 info@jdistribution.net www.jdistribution.net Balanced Technology www.balancedtech.com.au Coemar De Sisti Australia www.cdaust.com.au Display Design www.displaydesign.com.au ECC www.ecclightingandliving.com

INTERIORS Climate Australia Specialists in Outdoor Temperature Solutions Unit 6, Enterprise Industrial Estate

OUTDOOR

Realflame www.realflame.com.au

HEATING

Bromic Heating Head Office: 1 Suttor Street, Silverwater, Sydney NSW 2128 1300 276 642 F: (02) 9748 4289 www.bromic.com.au

LIGHTING

Element Labs www.elementlabs.com Euroluce www.euroluce.com.au Haron Robson www.haronrobson.com.au

Di Emme Creative Solutions Chiaro Screens - MetaFinish MetaFlex - Stonini Unit 3, 87-89 Moore Street Leichhardt NSW 2040 (02) 9550 0811 www.diemme.com.au Crown Doors International www.crowndoors.com.au Ke-Zu www.kezu.com.au Silent GlIss www.silentgliss.com.au Smartstone www.smartstone.com.au

Illumanon www.illumanon.com Innermost www.innermost.com.au Illumination Physics www.illuminationphysics.com LSW www.lsw.com.au Mance Design www.mance.com.au Mayfield Lamps www.mayfieldlamps.com.au Mega Vision www.megavision.com.au

LouvreSpan 1 Comserv Close, West Gosford, NSW 2250 T: 1300 568 873 F: (02) 4323 1951 info@louvrespan.com.au www.louvrespan.com.au Skyspan Umbrellas www.skyspan-umbrellas.com Supershades www.supershades.com.au Vergola www.vergolansw.com.au

POINT OF SALE Fedeltapos www.fedeltapos.com Impos www.impos.com.au Micros Systems www.micros.com Omnipos www.omnipos.com.au Redcat www.redcat.com.au

SECURITY EOS www.eos.com.au Nightkey www.metropolisfremantle.com.au

Optique www.optique.com.au

OPOC www.opoc.com.au

Optic Fibre Lighting www.opticfiberlighting.com.au

SIGNAGE

Osram www.osram.com.au

Albert Smith Group www.asggroup.com.au

Passive Lighting www.passivelighting.com.au

Face Visual Marketing Group www.facevmg.com.au

PointOfView www.pov.com.au

Fen Systems Australia www.fensystems.com.au

Pulse Show Lighting www.pulse-ent.com.au

Fremont Design www.fremontdesign.com.au

Devex Systems www.devexsystems.com.au

Satelight www.satelight.com.au

Sachr Sign Strategy www.sachr.com.au

EcoSmart Fire www.ecosmartfire.com

Studio Italia www.studioitalia.com.au

Everdure www.everdure.com

Tenrod www.tenrod.com.au

Gasmate www.gasmate.com.au

Yellow Goat www.yellowgoat.com.au

Jetmaster www.jetmaster.com.au

Xenian www.xenian.com.au

Keverton www.kevertonoutdoor.com.au

WhiteLite www.whitelite.com.a

Parasol Heaters www.parasolheaters.com.au

ULA www.ula.com.au

Somfy www.somfy.com.au Thermofilm Australia Pty Ltd 27 Rosalie Street, Springvale VIC 3171 T: (03) 9562 3455 F: (03) 9548 3979 sales@thermofilm.com.au www.thermofilm.com.au Celmec International www.celmec.com.au

Pure Heat

Tint Design www.tintdesign.com.au Woven Image www.wovenimage.com.au Woven Wall www.wovinwall.com Viridian Glass www.viridianglass.com

81

L’Opera

Paris www.opera-restaurant.fr

Like an intergalactic starship installation lodged within an extraordinary historic building, this restaurant is really something else. The stunning, futuristic design of French architect Odile Decq has been carefully sculptured to compliment the richly built cultural heritage established by the National Paris Opera House.

L’Opera Restaurant is located behind the prestigious pillars of The Palais Garnier, a must-see Parisian building inaugerated in 1875. Ever since its launch, the building’s architect, Charles Garnier, envisaged the creation of a restaurant.

Finally, 136 years later, the long awaited restaurant opened its doors in 2011.

The open dining area on the ground floor follows the contours of the mezzanine and the dome above with curvaceous carpeting and modernist chairs. The mezzanine is also clad in vibrant and suitably theatrical red, housing intimate nooks with integrated seating. The menu of Michelin two-star Chef Christophe Aribert and his culinary collaborator, Executive Chef Yann Tanneau, looks to be in perfect harmony with the allure of its contemporary and creative surrounds.

82

Photos: Roland Halbe

LOOKS LIKE THE FUTURE SOUNDS LIKE THE FUTURE CLUB.two

Quad 12-in woofers; high-output mid/high compression driver

AVALON BY EAW DANCE CLUB LOUDSPEAKERS EXIST ONLY FOR THOSE WHO SEEK THE FINEST THE WORLD HAS TO OFFER. FORM, FUNCTION, FIT AND FINISH COMBINE IN AN EXPRESSION OF PURE EXCELLENCE.

AVALONBYEAW.COM CLUB.three

15-in woofer; high-output mid/high compression driver

CLUB.four

12-in woofer with coaxial high frequency compression driver

CLUB.five

8-in woofer with coaxial high frequency compression driver

SUB.two

Dual 12-in sub bass cones, horn-loaded; 21-in direct radiating sub bass cone, vented

we are family

be a part of our family over 60 products across 13 series of projectors, panels and touch screens

pro.sony.com.au