When we received the plans for the café, I noted that the layout was similar to the café that is located in Lyne Park, Rose Bay (just down the street from me). I decided to locate the café there (the joys of imaginary clients!) and the rest fell into place!
The back story to the commercial café design was a family who had worked in the restaurant industry and now wanted to open their own restaurant. I decided that my family should be transplanted Americans (again, taking creative liberties!). There is a large representation of different nationalities in the food industry in Sydney, yet not so much American food, not counting fast food. American food from the South would work well in Sydney, given that they are both similar climates. The menu was the first thing I developed.
Lyne Park is located on the edge of Sydney Harbour, so it has the double treat of a leafy park on the water's edge. In doing my market research, Rose Bay has a couple of high end restaurants in The Sailor's Club and Catalina, and numerous coffee shops and take away shops. What it is missing is somewhere in the middle, where families and people can gather to relax and enjoy the scenery. Inspired by the harbour setting and the leafy park, I settled on a "Nautical Picnic" theme.
The setting:
The inspiration:
Picking a colour scheme was the next step. Navy was the obvious given, being the official nautical colour! Inspired by the blue and orange in the previous Temple and Webster styling assignment, I added orange to the scheme, along with a touch of aqua. Also, subconsciously, I think I was inspired by American sportswear designers Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren. (Funnily enough, post assignment, I was walking through the mall and spotted the orange and navy theme in the Ralph Lauren window!)
A few months ago, we had a school excursion to Materialised, who design and print commercial fabric. We were shown how we could design our own fabric using Dulux colours to match. I then designed three different striped fabrics for picnic rugs and cushions using Dulux colours; Flamboyant Orange, Blue Mercury and Royal Battle.
The rest of the design unfolded from there:
Jardan for picnic tables, café tables and bench seating.
Di Lorenzo for a fabulous timber tile and subway tile behind the bar.
Like Butter wooden milk crates assembled into storage shelving behind the bar.
Basil Bangs umbrellas for the terrace.
And my personal favourite... Walk the Plank for the bar stools. (A local Sydney company.)
And the name... some quick brainstorming with some friends (I am fortunate enough to have some intelligent friends!) and the name "Mary Rose" came up. The Mary Rose was Henry VIII's battle ship. (Though the Mary Rose was sunk in battle... hopefully my café fares better than that!) A quick switch of Mary to Merry, and The Merry Rose was launched!
The final design... apologies for the iPhone pics... grabbed quickly before it was handed in!
And finally, I even specified that the staff would wear navy Sperry Topsider shoes... of course they would!
