“You know what a Fugazzi is? Fugazzi, it’s a fake. It’s a hazy, it’s a doozie, it’s fairy dust. It doesn’t exist. It never landed. It is in no matter. It’s not on the elemental chart. It’s not fucking real.”
- Wolf of Wall Street
Fugazzi is an Italo-New York inspired bar and dining room that blurs the line between today and yesterday. It’s that moment of deja vu that begs the question, have I been here before?
An overnight institution where velvet, leather, marble, inlaid geometric scraps and custom joinery shelves are layered to create a decadent and luxurious atmosphere designed to invoke a sense of nostalgia.
There it is, a romantic, textural representation of the past, that simultaneously manages to remain firmly rooted in the contemporary. Is its bold character a physical manifestation of the Italians’ age-old gift of making art out of life, or is it just Fugazzi?
The hospitality brief was for an elevated style of dining, drinks and nibbles in the bar on arrival, and long stays in the dining room, where guests are welcomed to sink into the plushness of the booths.
The bar and the restaurant are altogether different experiences that serve to unite the whole, yet thrive as individual offerings.
The bar is rich in its materiality, and much darker in its execution, allowing users to ‘hide’ in the corners from day through to night. The restaurant is much brighter, with carefully curated art and styling pieces, and an elevated level of comfort.
The custom joinery pieces, finished predominantly in a high gloss red, and with circular details expressed in both concave and convex forms serve to unify the two spaces.
As a whole the space feels made for the future, an all-encompassing experience through service, food, drink and fit out.
The project demonstrates a unification of hospitality concept and fit out. A sound understanding of an elevated experience.
The resolution of the planning, managing a narrow entry space to create a useable bar that does double time as a service bar for the restaurant, and also operates as a stand alone offering.
The typical raised bar separating drink making from drink consuming has been removed to reveal the craft behind the drink, to reveal the hospitality. To create a bar that is as much about the service and presentation as it is about the making. A bar that truly engages with the patron.
The restaurant provides exclusive banquette and booth seating to elevate the comfort levels to align to the quality of the offering. Removing the classic ‘bad seat’ from the offering.
Team:
Architecture, Interior Design, Art direction, Furniture & Styling: studio gram
Lead Architects: Graham Charbonneau, Dave Bickmore
Builder: BuildInc
Plant Styling and Floral arrangements: Emma Sadie Thomson
(E-S-T)
Photography: Jonathan VDK
Materials Used:
Plates: Fornasetti
Artwork: Kasper Schmidt-Mumm
Upholstery: McConnell’s Upholstery
Accessories: Studio Henry Wilson, Linear Standard
Furniture: James Richardson, Fomu
Door Hardware: Bankston Architectural
Plumbing Hardware: United Products & The Source
Lighting: Nightworks Studio, Anna Charlesworth, Jardan, 360 Volt, Artemide
