Margot – Elegance with an Italian accent
Creating a relaxed but elegant and luxurious environment, drawing strongly on classic Italian design influences, Margot, the new London Italian restaurant is the smart new place to be seen in Covent Garden, London.
Inspired by the some of the great Italian influences of celebrated architects and designers and the homely Italian family kitchens of times gone by, the stylish interior is set across a ground and lower ground floor and basement, each dining room with its own dining room identity.
The venue, currently proving extremely popular, is owned by former Bar Boulud Maitre’d Paulo de Tarso and Nicolas Jaouen, the former manager of La Petite Maison.
Fabled Studio were the interior designers for the project, with the fit out being carried out by PBH Shopfitters, who were praised for their work.
The interior was created within a space previously occupied by another restaurant, but was completely stripped out to shell and core state to create Margot’s unique character and ambience.
Tom Strother, director of Fabled Studio said: “The venue was an amalgamation of two buildings and one of the challenges of the project was that when we stripped out the interior, we discovered that there was a really low, awkward part of the ceiling in the basement. So we had decided to update our ceiling design to work around the existing architectural challenges, rather than trying to change work under it.”
The ground floor of the venue has a slightly more formal ambience compared to the basement, which has more of a ‘clubby’ feel.
Arranged around an open kitchen where guests can see food being prepared, the main dining area on the ground floor is flooded with natural light from the large windows and has an air of relaxed sophistication. There is also a long dining bar with seating for 10 covers.
Downstairs, the space includes a small cocktail bar with a smaller pastry kitchen back of house and a dining area incorporating a small cocktail bar.
Tom Strother said: “The interior design pays homage to the influences of celebrated Italian architects and designers including Gio Ponti, Fornasetti and Carlo Mollino, which we have re-interpreted based on a London vernacular. For example, the waiter stations are based on a Fornasetti classic Italian dresser bureau design but using drawings of local Covent Garden buildings designed by the Architect Inigo Jones, giving them a London centric approach, combined with the architectural influences of the surrounding Covent Garden buildings.
“There is a large feature wall near the entrance on the ground floor decorated with bespoke handmade blue and white dome shaped tiles. These pay homage to a technique used by Italian architect Gio Ponti where he used to coat porcelain pebbles as a wall cladding in the interior design of a hotel in Turin.”
All of the lighting and metalwork on the ground floor is in copper, referencing the Italian kitchens of the 1950s, where handmade pasta was cooked in copper pans. This area also features bespoke screen printed wallpaper based on classic Italian geometric wallpapers often seen in ‘50s Italian kitchens designs.
The ground floor also features broken Palladian terrazzo flooring incorporating large pieces of broken marble – again a traditional Italian design influence.
The overall colour palette on the ground floor is navy blue and copper, with splashes of mustard as an accent colour in the upholstery. All of the furniture is bespoke, and includes a mixture of banquettes and moveable seating and tables, with bespoke bar stools at the long dining bar.
In contrast, the lower ground colour scheme features a combination of deep greens with polished brass and blackened steel metal work, and a feature floor flooring in made of three different types of marble species cut together in a bespoke design.
Tom Strother said: “All of the lighting used in the venue is bespoke and we concentrated on creating a low and midlevel of ambient illumination which would be flattering for the guests.
“The client is delighted with the design and the venue is trading strongly. The contractors, PBH did a fantastic job too.”
Noble Russell and Margot
Margot is the much-anticipated restaurant from Paulo de Tarso and Nicolas Jaouën and appointed Executive Chef Maurizio Morelli. After a month of opening, Margot is already receiving rave reviews for their delicious Italian food, excellent service for which de Tarso and Jaouën are so well known, and elegant interior design.
The 104-cover restaurant, set in the heart of Covent Garden, has a relaxed stylish appearance and has been cleverly designed by Fabled Studio, a regular client of Noble Russell’s. The restaurant, which covers two floors, has a contemporary palette with deep and turquoise blues, pale marbles and greys with copper accents to evoke the copper pans often found in Italian kitchens.
Noble Russell, having a reputation for producing restaurant furniture of exceptional quality were chosen to work closely with both the designers and clients to develop and specify the custom-built seating and tables. To achieve results of such high quality requires a deep understanding and appreciation for materials and processes, all of which is synonymous with Noble Russell’s work.
Over sixty-five metres of banquette seating has been specially constructed in eight different formations tailored to fit the space perfectly. Each banquette has stained and lacquered oak frames and has been fully upholstered in soft leather with buttoned backs. They have been hand finished with over eleven thousand individual copper stud details.
Forty veneered oak tables have been custom-built to complement the banquette seating and provide the perfect understated backdrop for some spectacular food.
The beautifully finished Noble Russell furniture was completed within budget, delivered and fitted on time by their professional team and truly enhances this exclusive new restaurant.
Tom Strother from Fabled Studio commented:
“It was a pleasure to work with the team at Noble Russell again on this great project. They have a great understanding of our attention to detail and apply the same care and attention that we do to our projects and have produced some great finished pieces for us. We look forward to working with them again in the future.”
More information on Noble Russell can be found on their website: www.noblerussell.co.uk.
