A glamorous panorama bar overlooking South East London

An exciting hospitality concept

When the owners of Mark’s Skybar – their second hospitality venue in South East London – secured the lease on the space with floor-to-ceiling windows, they knew it had the potential to be a truly special neighbourhood venue. They approached architecture studio Taner’s Sons with the brief to transform the blank premise on the upper floors of a commercial building into a restaurant and bar with a unique character.

Mustafa Afşaroğlu, lead architect on this project, and his team developed an inviting scheme that easily transitions from casual daytime bistro to intimate evening bar. ‘During the day, the space needed to feel informal and comfortable – more like a coffee shop – and at nighttime, it turns into a cosy lounge and bar,’ explains Mus about the concept. 

The architects divided the space into different zones, including a feature bar, round seating booths, a lounge area and the terrace. Except for a few built-in elements, the space needed to offer maximum flexibility to accommodate different use cases, for example, large private parties. 

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Finding furniture that meets brief and budget

Soon after the client had approved Taner’s Sons' creative plans, Mus reached out to account manager Jake from Clippings with a furniture wishlist. The furniture package needed to reflect this day-to-night-time use, mixing high and low seating, combined with signature lighting to add personality to an open space like this. The FF&E should also emphasise the stand-out architectural features, including the glossy, tapered columns behind the bar, ceramic wall panelling and bronze ceiling tiles.

‘​​Working with Clippings is easier than using a traditional dealer – it’s just more progressive.'

We didn’t have a full furniture schedule. Instead, we shared the design pack with Clippings, which we then developed further in collaboration with Jake and the team’, Mus says. ‘We knew what we wanted and had a clear vision.’ To bring Mus’ vision to life, our spec team found products that were on budget, could meet the deadline and followed the interior scheme.

With committing to high-quality, original furniture, the Clippings team also organised a mock-up room with furniture samples from various Clippings partner brands. That way, the end client could get a sense of the final look and feel and see the craftsmanship up close.

Making the most out of the platform advantage

Mus also used the Clippings platform to find product alternatives, browsing the vast online catalogue with instant trade discounts and reviewing suggestions from the Clippings team in the project’s section. This allowed for a faster product review and approval process while reducing the need for lengthy email chains and follow-up calls. 

‘​​Working with Clippings is easier than using a traditional dealer – it’s just more progressive’, says Mus. ‘All you need is easily available: you get links to quotes on the platform, which we could easily share with the client and leave comments. The whole pricing structure is in one place.’

After the order placement, Clippings collected all deliveries in our East London warehouse. Once the site was ready, the logistics team arranged delivery according to the client’s schedule. On installation day, Clippings project manager Anna travelled to the site, overseeing unpacking and assembly, as well as completing a thorough snagging process. 

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Images: Luke Hayes