SPRING
Spring restaurant is a family affair with the kind of familiar warmth and ambience one might expect from the former Vogue food editor Skye Gyngell in this, her first solo venture. Designed by Gyngell’s sister, Sydney-based interior designer Briony Fitzgerald, Spring has a layered, feminine elegance which sits with charm and poise within the New Wing of the iconic neo-classical Somerset House in London.
There is an ease to the elegance and a purity to the focus at Spring. Food “is celebrated for its conviviality and the joyfulness of sharing seasonal produce”, a simple philosophy which extends through the interior design to enrich the experience of dining. Statement pieces of furniture and lighting are allowed their space giving the visitor time and serenity with which to contemplate the beauty of each piece over the fussiness of excessive detail.
The light-flooded white walled room with large arched windows and lofty ceilings have been dressed with a carefully curated palette of saddle leather, soft grey blue, brass, copper and baby pinks. Atop the wide danish oak floors sits a roomful of the iconic Cassina Cab chair, in their tanned perfection, eagerly awaiting the patina of time. Bookending the main dining space are a line of Mayor sofas by Danish architects Arne Jacobsen and Flemming Lassen in dark grey/brown and in pink delicately, paired with e15’s Habibi tables. The bar’s bold book-matched marble is framed by Vico Magistretti’s gold Atollo lamps and New York based Apparatus Studio’s hand-blown glass Cloud chandeliers.
Gracing the walls of Spring are works by esteemed British artists. ‘Peonies’, created by gilded glass artist Emma Peascod is a five panelled 22ct gold leaf, silver leaf and Japanese paper piece which announces the entrance area while Valeria Nascimento’s delicate white porcelain ‘Blossoming’ of flower motifs in various states of opening scatter the soft blue grey walls of the main dining room.
Within the centre of Spring is a beautifully serene garden atrium, an oasis of calm by acclaimed garden designer Jinny Blom. The walls of the atrium lined with panels, each bearing the fossil-like form of a huge Gunnera manicata leaf. Blom describes her intervention as “mineral-like, stony, cool, green and as natural as possible… a hint of a grotto or a ruined castle”.
The casual boxy shift dresses, delicate stripes, small black ribbons and canvas plimsolls of the uniforms by celebrated designers Egg and Trager Delaney celebrate the simplicity and the sophistication of how best to achieve a considered sense of grace and style.
Spring is honest, heartfelt, wholesome elegance at its best.
Image Credits Via: Spring Restaurant Studio Peascod Yatzer and Escapade with photography by Paul Massey and Tom Mannion for Vogue Living
