Hospitality Design - April 2012 - 312

This and opposite page, clockwise from above: Three views of the Sayers Club in Los Angeles, a live-music lounge and nightclub, which has a luxurious yet gritty feel with rooms draped in weighty graphite velvet, real aged leather, a backbar made from exposed raw steel, and orb chandeliers and pendants above a retractable stage.

sexy vibe. “The focal point is the fountains,” says Jonsdottir, “so the space elevates up to the backbar so everyone, no matter where they are located, can see outside over the patio and the lake.” Arresting details abound. The entry features mosaic marble floors and doors, mahogany wood paneled walls, and a mirrored ceiling. The grand salon is indeed grand with dark wood floors and a fireplace and mantel (where DJs spin) made of black and white Balinese petrified wood. In the upper living room, various artwork and photography hang over the backlit marble bar with its vanity-inspired top made of high-gloss black carved wood. “[Guests] can feel at home—or at their alter ego home—in this grand villa lifestyle,” says Jonsdottir. The Sayers Club—a live-music venue, lounge, and nightclub that opened last summer—took a similarly sumptuous approach, but with an edge. “The look needed to be luxurious and dramatic yet gritty, without being overdone,” says creator and curator Jason Scoppa (of Bardot fame), who collaborated on the design with Ashley Manhan of Venice, California-based Avenue Interior Design. The centerpiece of Sayers (which is located behind and through an unmarked door in a Papaya King hotdog eatery) is a retractable stage that lifts up into the ceiling via four Columbus McKinnon Prostar electric chain hoists. The novelty has a purpose: to make the space as flexible as possible for the variety of artists who play there—from Prince and Questlove to Tony Bennett and on-the-rise stars.

The stage isn’t the only detail that does double duty. The corners of the room are draped in weighty graphite velvet, which is both dramatic and acoustically advantageous. The tin ceiling tiles—powder-coated matte black and punctured with micro holes—are used on the walls as well, and as an added boon, are padded from behind for sound absorption. Other design decisions were made with a specific aesthetic in mind. “I really focused on making the design elements feel found,” says Manhan. “We mixed velvet drapery that felt luxurious, used real aged leather that you would find in an old smoking room, made the backbar out of exposed raw steel, and left the brick feature wall how we found it in the original space.” Instruments are permanent design fixtures in keeping with the club’s impromptu feel (it operates on word-of-mouth promotion). Pieces include a dark green Sonor drum kit and vintage-y Fuchs guitar amps, as well as Scoppa’s collection of Gibson guitars. Elsewhere, leather Chesterfield sofas provide comfortable perches for guests to listen to the acts, and “orb chandeliers and pendants loom over the center of the room [creating] just enough of the industrial grit I was going for,” says Scoppa. hd www.sbe.com; www.gplusdesign.com; www.avenuelosangeles.com

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - April 2012