Architects and designers SHH have revamped Café Liberty, the 60-cover, second floor restaurant at London’s iconic Liberty department store on Regent Street, which was originally constructed in 1924 using the timbers of two ships (HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan).
Major new features include reclaimed 1920s doors (sourced from Retrouvius); a 1920s Arts & Crafts washstand, reading desk and mahogany cabinet to serve as greeter and waiter stations; eye-catching hand-blocked wallpaper (by Martha Armitage); a series of beautiful reclaimed glass lights and three neon flying ducks (bespoke-designed by SHH’s lead designer on the project, Helen Hughes) at the entrance of the café, to attract attention and give the room a contemporary tweak.
‘Our overall approach’, commented Helen Hughes, ‘was to make the interior look properly integrated with the building; make the restaurant function better, with more appropriate seating and lighting, and introduce striking new elements, that were either era-appropriate, highly contemporary or else which evoke the craft and maker spirit of the Arts & Crafts movement, such as the hand-printed wallpaper.’
The main decoration took the form of new paintwork for panels and columns, in a strong and contemporary mid-dark grey, with the two long walls papered in two different intricate grey and white motif designs (one of leaves and butterflies and one of a fantasy garden) by wallpaper designer Martha Armitage (sourced from Sigmar).