It would be hard to find an outfit doing more to refine the imbibing experience right now than Home Studios. In the mold of pioneering New York hospitality firms like Roman & Williams and Avroko, founder Oliver Haslegrave has cultivated a talent for imbuing projects with a timelessness that stems from a use of salvaged materials and a keen interest in history. While it’s certainly true that the Brooklyn-based practice has steadily expanded its repertoire since launching in 2009—including restaurants, retail, and residential, a line of home décor, and an upcoming hotel in Memphis—Home’s recent spate of dapper bar debuts stands out for elevating a genre that often falls back on tired tropes. “We’re not a great fit for a lot of projects,” Oliver admits, “but [the ones that are] art-based, diverse, really detail oriented, and exploratory are what we’re after, whatever shape that takes.”
This Brooklyn Firm’s Elevated Bar Designs Will Heighten Your Buzz
Bars such as Vini e Fritti, Bibo Ergo Sum, and The Spaniard prove that tying one on in a space by Home Studios is worth the $15 cocktail.
Bars such as Vini e Fritti, Bibo Ergo Sum, and The Spaniard prove that tying one on in a space by Home Studios is worth the $15 cocktail.
February 02, 2018
Last year alone, that approach materialized in the Brooklyn rebirth of cult East Village cocktail spot Elsa (Home’s first bar commission); West Village burger-and-whiskey joint The Spaniard; Danny Meyer’s Roman-inspired aperitivo spot Vini e Fritti; and, in November, Bibo Ergo Sum, an art deco stunner in West Hollywood. At Bibo, led by a team including the minds behind New York’s renowned Death & Co. and Tait Forman, entrepreneur and heir to Arclight Cinemas, the result is a space both theatrical and functional, taking its visual cues from black-and-white French New Wave film, 1900s Viennese Secessionist architecture, the Memphis Group’s wavy shapes and colors, and Modernist Finnish designer Alvar Aalto. “It’s not a movie–themed bar, but it has that narrative string to pull on. Having those subtle notes is amazing and part of who I am. It’s the very definition of L.A. in many ways,” Forman says. Just about everything is site-specific and was fabricated in Home’s Brooklyn atelier, right down to the tap handles—a customization process they’ve become known for. Despite the nods to Tinseltown culture, Death & Co. cofounder Dave Kaplan says the city hasn’t seen an arrival quite like this before. “Everything Home has done is so relevant in the cocktail world. They have a dramatic aesthetic not often seen today, and bringing an outside design style into the L.A. landscape is new and refreshing.”
(All photos courtesy of Home Studios)