Page 23 - Designing Ways 253

"Once all the machinery had been
cleared out, our first impression was that
its rectangular shape was reminiscent
of a cellar," recalls the studio’s founder
and creative director, Fu. “But cellars are
typically located below ground. So, the
design proposition became this idea of
bringing the cellar up 38 floors into the
sky. What kind of cellar would this look
and feel like?"
The answer is a dramatic sequence of
spaces that begins unfurling from the
first step into the mood-lit entrance.
Burgundy-hued and timber-lined, The
Cellar’s bijou foyer is anchored by a
vaulted ceiling over a smoky mirrored
corridor, a round reception table, cast-
white metal pendant lamp, and a tufted
Persian-inspired rug, a whimsical
homage to the carpet-shops of the hotel’s
Kampong Glam neighbourhood.
A triple-layered archway made of
distressed brick is framed by black
ironmongery, reassuringly solid timber
doors, and teal blue velvet curtains that
draw back to reveal The Cellar’s intimate
but perfectly proportioned dining room
dotted with low-slung kidney-bean-
shaped sofas and ribbed-back chairs.
Underfoot are ragged cuts of dark Italian
Cadia Grigio marble and light castle-grey
sandstone, and bookending the space are
timber display cabinets sheathed with
wire-mesh doors.
The eye is drawn gently down the
length of the room by an arched ceiling
in rich hues of deep turquoise, embedded
with an elegant stretch of oak and

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