NEWS ARTICLE: Bringing Conran into the 21st Century

(Tom Innes, Theme, June 2007, www.thememagazine.co.uk )

The Heirs to Conran Restaurants have Traded Grandeur for Intimacy at Bluebird

'Although there are exceptions to every rule, the venues developed by Conran Restaurant in the past 20 years have generally been on a grand scale. Think of London institutions such as Quaglino’s or Le Pont de La Tour, more recent acquisitions such as Floridita, or the cavernous Guastavino’s on Manhattan’s Upper East Side: none of them exactly shy and retiring – big spaces for conspicuous nights out.

The group is now D&D London, following the management buyout of Conran Restaurants, and one of the early challenges for the new owners was how to evolve and modernise these vast spaces and make them as appealing to consumers today as the were in the 80s and 90s.

Bluebird on the King’s Road is one of D&D’s landmark sites, and as the venue approached its 10th birthday it was one of the first earmarked for refurbishment. “Looking at Bluebird in 2006, it felt like a very lofty space, whereas there was a definite trend for more intimate environments for bars and restaurants,” said D&D’s Judith Speller.

Conran remains a significant shareholder in D&D, and Conran & Partners is the group’s designer, so it was Conran’s Tina Norden who oversaw the refurbishment. Tina was one of Sir Terence Conran’s newest recruits when Bluebird opened in 1997 and is now associate architect at the company.

Capturing the Mood

“Restaurants don’t have that long a lifespan, they get used and abused. We wanted to return Bluebird to its former glory,” Tina says. “But the restaurant scene has moved on and people’s expectations have changed. The grand gestures of the big restaurants were new and exciting, but now people want a more intimate feel, and we were looking to give that.”

The key was to break up the room, punctuating it with different styles and heights of furniture as well as curtains that create spaces within a space. Blurring the formerly sharp line between bar and restaurant area was a key factor, as well as keeping the flexibility of the venue: almost all of the furniture can be removed for events if necessary.

Lighting was one of the key factors in getting the right ambience. Gravity Interiors installed a system that helps the venue appeal to different consumers at different times of day, and features set-piece chandeliers, one from Hotcakes and the other a Conran-designed fitting manufactured by Dernier and Hamlyn.

Other key contributors included main contractor Crane interiors, Davison and Highly upholstery and Aspreas, responsible for the curtains. The colour palette is less clinical than the old Bluebird, with warm browns and deep reds helping achieve the desired intimacy.(...)'

For more information please contact: Emilie Lemons, Conran & Partners: cp@conranandpartners.com

June 2007