The company purchased the building several years ago, operating above an artisanal bakery. We convinced our clients that incorporating both levels would best reflect their offering: new releases via a casual setting downstairs, and premium vintages via a ‘full-bodied’ sentiment upstairs. Gutting the bakery, we retained the timber floors, staining them a light pebble grey to bounce natural light about. Aloft, new timber boards were coated a deep walnut shade to convey a hushed sophistication.
Downstairs, we conceived crisp timber furnishings with fresh shades of green reflecting the label’s renowned Chardonnays via laminated joinery plus high pedestal table bases. Rectangular timber table surfaces were painted a high sheen forest green, highlighting raised woodgrain patterns. Other surfaces were crafted from larger natural oak (plus high stools), subliminally referencing the species used to craft barrels to age and ferment wine. Stone anchors the monolithic cellar door bar, serving as the room’s focal point with its inset polished brass vessel showcasing tasting bottles. Its mottled silvery shade symbolises the cool-climate origins of Giant Steps’ wines. We sandblasted and brushed it to create a textured surface.
Upstairs, furnishings take on a layered approach, reflecting more complex flavour profiles. We specified dining chairs with rounded backrests, with those in the private room featuring rope detailing. Adding finesse, we overlayed a richer material palette, synonymous with the array of taste sensations experienced when sampling the company’s famed Pinot Noirs. Two lounge settings introduce bursts of vinous red via glossy round side tables. Our supple bespoke deep olive leather armchairs and sofas with raw open seam cuffs instantly unstitch the severity of the architectural fabric (notably the blackened steel window frames), hinting at the label’s progressive approach to wine-making. They sit atop rich lilac artsilk rugs that evoke the hue of sweetly ripened grapes.
We incorporated the raw edged design of the leather seating upstairs to clad joinery fronts at the rear of the ground floor space with organic grey linen to soften the room’s hard edges, also cosying the raised table and aiding soundproofing. Tautly adhered to the fronts, they appear like hand-beaten steel sheets. Further connecting the levels through materiality, we fitted the fabric over the stair’s metal balustrade, stitching frayed cuffs upon it to disguise the open landing and cosy the upper level. We also crafted a custom service station that reverses the design of the metal insets shelving below given aluminium crisply envelops the olive green unit.
Photography by Sharyn Cairns
