A mélange of cobalt tile, chrome finishes, and partitions awash in azure conspire for enchanted evenings tucked away in Solely Love Strangers, a brand new bi-level cocktail lounge and restaurant on Manhattan’s Decrease East Aspect designed by Brooklyn-based Studio Omar Aqeel for a newly-founded hospitality group helmed by administrators Amelie Kang, Simona Petrovska, Christian Castillo, Irene Li, and Yishu He. Its electrified surroundings evokes the spirit of speakeasies the place patrons might bask in aphrodisiacs, imbibe craft cocktails, and vibe to stay jazz.
When in full swing, the 6,300-square-foot house is blanketed with hearty whiffs of mediterranean delicacies all through the bottom stage bar, lounge, and eating rooms simply because the bleats, harrumphs, and exaltation of horns – typically accompanied by torchy vocals – waft up by way of the properly from the cocktail lounge and stay efficiency house seen under. Aqeel references an ethos from the Roaring Twenties whereas making use of aesthetic tenets from the Fifties and 60s for a subversive, retro-futuristic inside structure. “We targeted on uncooked assemblies, anachronistic discourse, transmutative perceptions, and materials juxtapositions,” notes Omar Aqeel, founding father of his eponymous studio. All that’s to say, inquiring minds are inspired to seek out themselves intoxicated on electrical blue hues and blended harmonies of classic, customized, and up to date furnishings as they discover every zone following a visible narrative guided by the musings of French-American artist Louise Bourgeois.
A customized cellular by Max Simon
…The colour blue means you’ve left the drabness of day-to-day actuality to be transported into – not a world of fantasy – however a world of freedom the place you possibly can say what you want and what you don’t like. This has been expressed perpetually by the colour blue…
Friends are greeted upon entry by the cantilevered brushed aluminum host stand illuminated with a classic Goffredo Reggiani wall gentle. Transferring ahead by way of an extruded archway that feels extra like a passage than a threshold is the adjoining bar room. Guests are enveloped in floor-to-ceiling cobalt blue tiles with tone-on-tone blue grouting. Weary vacationers can commerce the din of New York for a second anchored by the round-edged, wrap-around aluminum clad bar. The adjoining wall is lined with fashionable summary banquettes upholstered in Verner Panton’s iconic 1969 “Black and White Optik” textile whereas the principle eating house is marked by earthy limewash plastered partitions intermixed with extra brushed aluminum accents, Sottsass Gray tabletops, and extra banquette seating upholstered in Kvadrat’s cobalt blue wool.
However for a extra personal affair, a separate eating room offers loads of privateness and distinction to the principle house showcasing a maximalist wall-to-wall, hand-painted mural abstracting the Bauhaus grid. The room can be adorned with Ant chairs by Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen, a classic Makio Hasuike for Seccose metro eating desk, Maru pendant lighting by Ingo Maurer – and its personal entrance with a branded door pull. Different honorable mentions from New York-based artists and designers staccatoed all through embrace furnishings from Blue Inexperienced Works, Yuyu Shiratori, Nico Anon, Superabundance, Gregory Beson, Adriana Gallo, Ash Allen, and Lucas Prepared Studios.
Curiosity piques with a chic cellular by Max Simon suspended inside voyeuristic egress, which permits for a view into the subterranean lounge by way of a lightwell surrounded by a number of intimate domed eating niches with blue crescent-shaped cubicles. A siren tune of cobalt emanates from the 55-seat lower-level-lounge under calling for listeners to dive into the blue. Each inch is supersaturated in OLS’ signature inky hue for heightened senses to understand the feel of house and sound. And each orthogonal line turns into activated by human type that breaks the grid.
Baklava Sundae
Steamed Mussels
“We frequently hear that visiting OLS appears like being in a pal’s very stylish condo – you already know, that sort you by no means need to depart,” the OLS crew says. “It truly is this sense of being at a fantastic get together, individuals getting up and going to see what’s happening within the different room. It feels very particular.”
Cocktails Publish Bop, Acid, Bebop, and Groove
To expertise OLS go to onlylovestrangers.com. And to be taught extra about Studio Omar Aqeel go to omaraqeel.com.
Styling by Anthony Amiano. Inside pictures by Ori Harpaz. Meals pictures by Heidi’s Bridge.
