W3 – Remy Martin, a luxury pop-up bar
The background
The client was presenting a Green Star (Best In Class for Sustainability) at the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2023 Launch Event and required a Luxury Pop up Bar for the one night event.
The brief shared by design agency W3 detailed REMY Martín wanting to showcase their product, how it perfectly paired with various foods and remain true to its brand through use of shapes, in particularly facets, textures and colour.
Build
The bar area consisted of a 3m high freestanding back wall made of MDF covered with a dark walnut wood effect vinyl. To ensure this structure was sturdy, it was supported by custom made wooden supports to the reverse, secured with stage weights.
A faceted wooden display was attached to the front board which had been precision cut using our CNC cutter and featured routed grooves to give the impression of single facets held together, all finished with an oak wood effect vinyl.
The food & drinks bars were to be rounded to give a welcoming, tactile and decadent feel. The bar fronts were finished with quilted diamond shape black fabric. The counter tops are constructed from 3 layered 18mm MDF panels with two layers of vinyl, an under layer of matt Chrome and then a facetted shaped dark walnut layer to create a resin river finished design.
Mirror chrome vinyl along the front of the counter and kick board enhanced the shelving unit inserts. Custom fitted warm LED strips hidden under the counter tops helped to illuminate the acrylic & chrome vinyl centaurs. The warm lighting choices gave a welcoming and intimate feel to the space.
Another design choice on the stand was a photo wall. This was produced as a recycled polypropylene facetted wall. It was very easily constructed on site and then ‘brought to life’ by dressing it with various foliage and bottles, all illuminated again with the warm lighting and finished with matt black and white vinyl cut logo designs.
Various faceted sections had a rebated groove cut so that foamex boards could be held in place. One of these was the ‘chalk’ effect which was created using filler.
The main shelving unit and both of the curved food & drinks bars were constructed from our sustainable aluminium modular system (T3), which provided a sturdy , transportable framework for finishing with various effects.
The back wall shelving unit was finished with light oak wood effect vinyl with the inserts for the shelves finished using mirrored chrome effect vinyl along with warm LED lighting to illuminate the products housed on each shelf.
The main REMY MARTIN logo was constructed from painted MDF & layers of acrylic. This was illuminated from below with stage lights to give even more depth.
Factors to be considered in production
We were advised that the venue was on the second floor and they had a very small lift. With limited access a design choice was made to make each piece either fully dismountable, lightweight or in sections that would be able to fit within the lift / be light enough for a 2 man carry.
This was an evening event with dim lighting so additional lighting was a huge factor, hence the extra depth custom bar tops and recessed LED lighting strips.
Intricate Acrylic centaurs attached to a rounded bar were adapted to be made from a clear acrylic background (instead of being cut exactly to shape) which gave a larger, less delicate surface area to attach to the bar, making it easier to assemble and more robust.
