The Ivy
1-5 West Street, London
The Ivy, one of the most prestigious restaurants in London closed at the beginning of 2015 for a complete refurbishment and re-design by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio.
Going back seven years we took on the major project of creating 300 leaded panels for The Club at The Ivy and exported a thematic set of silver leaf diamond mirrors and leadlights to recreate the look at The Ivy, Dubai. More recently we made traditional leaded panels for a sister restaurant in Covent Garden, the Ivy Market Grill. So we were back in full swing on this massive refurbishment – carefully removing and storing all the iconic leadlights to begin the process of the clean up – scrubbing away layers of London grime back in our Essex studio, making small repairs where necessary with new glass, lead and solder followed by the huge task of re-installing them during the 5-month closure of this great London institution.
The Standard – 3 June 2015
‘…fabulous refurbishment…while the bar situation has been completely revised, a new triangular one emulating the triangular site as a whole…Those diamond-mullioned windows are still there, casting that softened, rainbow light…’
And our journey with The Ivy happily continued with the commission to make an extensive and rich mix of handmade feature mirrors for the new interior: verre eglomisé, silver leaf and golden bronze antiqued.
There is a new entrance where a copper-light screen and doors gleam with lightly textured Artista glass. The cylindrical columns on the new triangular central bar, perfect within the flatiron shape of The Ivy building, are encased with slim antiqued mirror tiles. They also form the sloping collar following the curvature above the bar, reflecting back the refurbished harlequin-style leadlights. Brightening the interior, sitting between the wooden panelling and the adjacent window recesses are bespoke silver leaf panels softly reflecting the contemporary works of art. Harmonizing with the panelling and the dark green leather seating booths sit ranges of our bevelled copper bronze antiqued mirror strips uniformly displayed within patinated brass frames. The bar in the upstairs private dining room is encased with our handmade panels of golden antiqued glass, edged with patinated brass.
We experimented to create just the right amount of antiquing yet maintaining the inherent translucence specifically required by the designers, so that we could make shaped glass for use in the chandeliers, which provide diffused golden lighting.
The Telegraph, 5 June 2015 described the makeover as:
‘…an unmitigated triumph…All now is sweetness and light, courtesy of the trademark harlequin stained glass windows and mighty bronze and glass pendants.’
The Mail Online wasn’t coy about it, praising the sumptuous toilets following the re-opening.
Indeed, the Ladies and Gents loos were also getting the bespoke treatment. The Gents had a set of lightly antiqued mirrors with moodily foxed edges, whilst the walls in the Ladies gained some verre eglomisé mirrors between the panels of dusky pink silk and also above the washbasins. We created some lightly antiqued mirrors bordered with a gently distressed gold leaf ivy trail motif. To complement the vanity table, and encapsulated by an aged brass frame, we made a large antiqued mirror edged with moongold leaf verre eglomisé.
