The feature wall is back, but not as you know it

730 565 Hamish Kilburn
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The feature wall is back, but not as you know it

A Norfolk based brand has taken the concept of a feature wall and merged it with hand-crafted, industrial-like shelving so that it can be utilised in hotel public areas. River Bespoke’s Katie Haynes explains…

As the hospitality industry changes rapidly, hotels are looking for new and creative ways to elevate their spaces. Hotel lobbies are evolving into places in which guests gather to meet, network, work and socialise and interiors need to accommodate these shifts in behaviour.

Guests want to be able to access services wherever and whenever they want within a hotel, so designing multi-purpose, flexible spaces that can cater for these changing needs is key in hotel design.

Hotels around the world are increasingly being seen as great design case studies exploring the stylistic directions for the whole interior design industry. They feature innovative concepts, shapes, colour schemes, novel materials or just play with the known to create something extraordinary and breath-taking. These bold hotel designs push us to embrace new interior perspectives.

At River Bespoke, we specialise in the creation of handcrafted bespoke feature walls from individual shelves. We’re all about simple, clean, elegant designs; living wall art that is ever-changeable as well as functional, adding interest to any space.

Whether on a solid or glass partition wall, our shelves work perfectly in delineating areas, whilst keeping them open, light and airy. River Bespoke accessorises and transforms a regular wall into a personalised art installation.

Case study: Palm Court, The Langham London

To date we have focussed on residential installations, but we’ve always said our bespoke feature walls would work equally beautifully in a commercial context. And now we’ve been able to prove it thanks to a commission from the world-renowned Palm Court, Langham Hotel, London.

Image credit: River Bespoke

We approached The Langham directly as part of a small campaign to target high-end London Hotels as a first step to enter the commercial sector. At our first meeting, we presented a few of our sample shelves and they immediately liked the concept and could envisage how it could work for them in an area they had been struggling with for some time. Palm Court, The Langham is famed as the place where the tradition of afternoon tea was born more than 150 years ago. It had previously been updated with a timeless and elegant interior however the bar area was dark and didn’t have the same luxury elegance as the rest of the room.

“We have been wanting to update the bar in Palm Court for some time and were looking for something different and special, River Bespoke’s shelves fitted the bill perfectly,” – Karina Ellias, Director of Food and Beverage at The Langham London

They wanted a unique and eye-catching backdrop for their bar, that would not only look stunning but also work to provide much-needed storage and display capability for a busy, customer-facing area.

We worked closely with the hotel team to trial different layouts, material choices and finishing touches. With the addition of ambient surround lighting, beautiful textured wallpaper and distressed bronze mirrors, we have helped them to create a truly beautiful area to compliment the luxurious Palm Court and fulfil the brief.

“We have been wanting to update the bar in Palm Court for some time and were looking for something different and special, River Bespoke’s shelves fitted the bill perfectly,” said Karina Ellias, Director of Food and Beverage at The Langham London. “We now have a beautiful champagne bar completing the stunning Palm Court. River Bespoke were very easy to work with from the initial concept, design and renders to working with our team to install the shelves on the day. Fitting was easy and flawless.”

Other hotel projects

As well as The Langham, we have also been working with another flagship hotel in London. The two projects are very different and address two separate issues, however they share the collective aim of creating beauty from a plain wall or partition.

We are quickly gaining traction in the hotel design arena, and adapting with designers to plan and create functional and beautiful environments. We are looking forward to seeing our feature walls in more commercial spaces in the future.

River Bespoke is one of the brands that has taken advantage of our Industry Support Package. To keep up to date with supplier news, click here. And, if you are interested in also benefitting from this three-month editorial package, please email Katy Phillips by clicking here.

Main image credit: River Bespoke

Hamish Kilburn / 15.04.2020

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