Douglas Blyde fixes a cocktail for Martin Brudnizki - the designer behind many of London's bars
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‘There are three responses to a piece of design: yes, no and wow. Wow is the one to aim for.’
So said celebrated graphic designer, Milton Glaser, creator of the ‘I❤NY’ logo. I feel a sense of well-upholstered ‘Wow’ at bar counters lovingly crafted by designer Martin Brudnizki which include The Ivy, Le Caprice, Sexy Fish and Scarfes Bar.
I first met Brudnizki at Le Caprice, which he subtly rejuvenated for its 30th anniversary. ‘I’ll always sit at a bar given a choice,’ he told me, blue eyes shimmering, in the restaurant which brought counter dining to London.
‘In here women of a certain age look 20 years younger at night,’ he added with a catching giggle, referring to the rose-tinged lighting.
More recently, I interviewed Brudnizki for an event celebrating his British-made Cocktail Collection in collaboration with furniture-maker George Smith. Taking inspiration from the image of ‘a 1950s woman perching in Dior with cocktail glass’, and named after old London members clubs, the low, plush chairs and sofas are obtainable by private customers and also feature at Annabel’s mark II. Brudnizki re-dressed the club he likens to Alice in Wonderland (‘down the rabbit hole, a magical world’) in ‘maximalist über-deluxe’. Look out for his fingerprint on the forthcoming Coral Room bar at the Bloomsbury Hotel, too, ‘packed with drawings by Luke Edward Hall’.
Born in Sweden to a German mother and Polish father, Brudnizki bears a dislike of ‘funereal’ black and ‘no, no camouflage’ beige. But peach is ‘ready for reinvention’.
For Cocktail Collection’s launch, I oversaw ‘Chase longue’, a drink fusing 40ml William’s pink grapefruit gin from Herefordshire farmer-distiller Chase (£36.61, masterofmalt.com), 10ml dry vermouth, 10ml Luxardo cherry liqueur and two dashes of rhubarb bitters, stirred then strained into a Martini glass and spritzed with grapefruit. Combined with Brudnizki’s furniture, it fittingly wowed…