Bar Etna

Bar etna is a complete hospitality design and build space i recently executed. I was luckily enough to have partners in this venture that trusted me to deliver a finished product of quality. This project albiet wholly its own, was born out of a scuttled earlier endeavour and just as likely could have never been. I had a different concept in the works when the premises fell through at the 23rd hour. In my pursuits for a new premises, I came across 47 newington Green. It was far too large for my original concept, however was perfect for something else, a pizzeria. Joe beddia has been my friend for many years now and we had often spoke of his desire to do something in london. Ed Mcilroy and I had become friends more recently as i was working to open my own space which he was gracious to help me with. After finding newington green, the idea seemed obvious. we all got together, and decided to make a go of it.

Bar etna is that result and it couldn’t have worked out better.

Both Joe and Ed are passionate people, with great input and taste. I cannot nor would I claim full responsibility for this space, as both Joe and ED have had perpetual involvement in its creation. for this reason, it is special and unique - in collaboration, great things can be achieved.

The restaurant has a single point of inspiration : Milano 1940-1970. when designing, I like to perform a case study on a cultural movement from a particular era. in this case - dolce vita and the craft available at the time. post war milan on the back of the bauhaus movement in europe, with the energy of new life and americano. I aimed to capture the essence of the city’s many chic and beautifully considered aperitivo bars and restaurants. a few in particular - la latteria for its colour and elegant simplicity, and bar basso for its amazing back bar and use of materials. Much has been interpreted to fit the space, service, menu, and clientele, but i hope these ideas are visible in the final design.

Materials include terrazzo, tile, stained veneer oak paneling, stainless steel, murano glass, mirror, formica , cross reeded glass, and mosiac tile(anja maye). I wanted the space to feel found, not built, for our guests to question what was original and what new. It is meant to be european in approach, and vintage in nature. We have sourced many found components to the space, imported items directly from milano, and used reclaimed materials where possible. i was thorough to ensure any modern tech is subtle or unseen.

Over the course of 4 months, a very small team of 4 people(myself included), fully transformed the space from vastly mixed materials to a single style holistic in approach. When stripping the space of the old skin, We uncovered the original floorboards, which were produced from solid oak, an unusual thing to find today. We resurfaced, milled, and refinished all the old floorboards on site, reusing the timber throughout the new design for all our hardwood skirting and custom architrave.

THe space is broken up into 4 zones, a front room at ground floor level(bar), a raised middle room(dining room), a back room at ground level(kitchen), and a lower ground area split between back of house, and customer washrooms. Originally the kitchen and bar were in the center raised room of the space, leaving the front and back sections as empty seating spaces, with no energy, flow or excitement. We moved the bar to the front room so that it would draw in guests from the street and provide a welcoming atmosphere, and positioned the kitchen in the back room. We put the dining room in the middle raised space so that it would take ambiance from both the kitchen and the bar.

A special thanks to tim, ed, Ian, Josh, Chris, Val, Stef, Neculai, and the grant family for all their help, morale, and commitment to seeing things through against the odds.