Designwell designed Mr. Pickles as a light and fresh eatery by day and a moody and refined bar by night for patrons visiting in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Mr. Pickles offers an experience of contrasts – light and fresh in the day, moody and refined at night. The lane-side casual bar offers a unique bar experience with it’s high ceilings and public vibe contrasted by a more intimate restaurant side as the main eatery rolling out to the Waikato River and Victoria on the River park.

The client brief was to create a memorable, textural interior that layered over the raw bones of The Riverbank Lane. We drew inspiration for the brand and space from the menu which is anchored around the sharing of Charcuterie and Cocktails between friends. Charcuterie is distinctly French and we based the interior story around art deco themes which was have origins from 1920’s France. It was critical the brand and space still felt fun and communal and not “fine-dining” so we were intentional about layering in bold material and distinct colours choices throughout the space.

Mr. Pickles is situated at the end of a lane-way and we purposefully located the main bar towards the lane way as if to serve pedestrians walking through. Rounded lane-side tables offer a clear delineation for enjoying Charcuterie and Cocktails while you wait in anticipation to enter the main eatery side. The main eatery has it’s own back bar making the room feel more intimate, and custom steel planters act as a move-able screen between tables further dividing the space for intimacy.

The rounded motif is repeated throughout the bar, tables, wall planters and screens acting as a thread to the art-deco theme and contrasting to the exposed straight structure above. A variety of timbers were used to add warmth and acoustic benefits. The timber wall paneling with battens acted as a warm home for the velvet booth seat and linear battens help create space between each booth table, drawing your eye to the feature wall sconces. Terrazzo was custom designed using Mr Pickles brand colours and integrated into the bar and table surfaces making an impacting first impression to customers.

Hidden in the heart of Hamilton, Mr Pickles offers an unexpected contrast of experiences.

Design: Designwell Photography: courtesy of Designwell

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