Blarney Innenausbau eines Irish Pubs und Cafés by Tetsuya Matsumoto

Blarney Innenausbau eines Irish Pubs und Cafés by Tetsuya Matsumoto is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award in Bronze in Innenraumdesign Competition Category.

BronzeInnenraum· 2025

Blarney Innenausbau eines Irish Pubs und Cafés

by Tetsuya Matsumoto

Client: The Blarney Stone

A' Design Award in Bronze Winner in Innenraum Category

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The Design

About Blarney Innenausbau eines Irish Pubs und Cafés

Blarney ist ein Interior-Design-Projekt für einen irischen Pub mit Café in Osaka, Japan. Der Raum bedient seine Gäste vom frühen Morgen bis in die späte Nacht. Der Rückbuffet-Schrank hinter dem Tresen besitzt Drehtüren, die abwechselnd Regale für alkoholische Getränke und Regale für Café-Utensilien freigeben. Schwere traditionelle Dekoration wird durch monochrome, direkt auf die Wände gemalte Kunst ersetzt, die irische Kulturelemente und Interpretationen ikonischer Plakate zeigt. Sämtliche Tische weisen dieselbe Höhe wie der Bartresen auf, um dem schmalen Raum gerecht zu werden. Die Gesamtfläche beträgt 70,78 Quadratmeter.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award in Bronze

Blarney Innenausbau eines Irish Pubs und Cafés ist Gewinner des A' Design Award in Bronze, einer hochprestigeträchtigen Anerkennung für herausragende Designs, die sich durch Kreativität, Einfallsreichtum und Scharfsinn auszeichnen. Bronze-Gewinner sind reichlich geschickte und auffallend kreative Artefakte, die die große Erfahrung, Fantasie und Findigkeit ihrer Designer belegen. Von Blarney Innenausbau eines Irish Pubs und Cafés wird erwartet, dass es ein hochgeschätztes, bewundertes und geliebtes Objekt ist, das bemerkenswert professionell und innovativ ist. Dieses mit dem A' Design Award in Bronze prämierte Design verkörpert bewährte Verfahren in Kunst, Wissenschaft, Design und Technologie und ist hervorragend in seiner Liebe zum Detail. Blarney Innenausbau eines Irish Pubs und Cafés befriedigt Bedürfnisse auf großartige Weise, berührt Wünsche, bezaubert Gefühle und spricht die Neugier an.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: For its third location as an Irish pub in Osaka, Blarney had to shift its business model to be able to serves customers from early morning to late night. To allow this transition the counter back cabinet uses a system of swinging doors altering between alcoholic beverages and cafe utensils shelves. Compared to a traditional Irish pub the heavy decoration was scraped out and replaced by monochrome art painted directly on the walls of the pub, and representing Irish culture and iconic posters.
Dimensions & Packaging: Gross Built Area: 70.78sqm
W12085mm x D7050mm x H2800mm
Tags: Japan, Osaka, Irish, Pub, Cafe, Flexible, interior, hospitality, bar, art
Production Technology: The walls are made using drywall techniques. They were then divided into three sections. A lower one is finished with cement based material. The middle part is finished in covering sheet with a rusted metal motif. And the upper part is finished in the same grey wall cloth as the ceiling. An indirect light line separates the wall parts. The art was painted directly on the top of the rust metal sheet.
Design Challenge: The middle ground between heavily decorated Irish pub and soft and relaxing atmosphere of a cafe can hardly be determined. Two strategies were adopted. The first is to design a counter back cabinet that showcases both alcoholic beverages and cafe utensils by creating pivoting doors. The second is to abstain from using any kind of traditional decoration and replace it with wall painting inspired by Irish culture elements and iconic posters interpretations.
Research: The project had to deal with a prominent dilemma that is related to its situation. The facility has strict rules that force the shop to open and provide services from early morning to late night. An Irish pub working hours is essentially in the afternoon and evening time, thus the need to convert the space to provide cafe services as well. The research consisted of balancing two different aesthetics of heavy Irish pubs and soft atmosphere of a cafe without loosing function of one or the other.
Inspiration: The bar and cafe cabinet are inspired by traditional furniture and black board signage. And added a twist by allowing them to pivot between the two, uncovering one or the other every time. The art on the wall refers to Irish cultural elements including the Blarney castle, the four leaf clove, the harp and some traditional motifs. The art also interprets some iconic posters for Irish whiskey and Guinness beer.
Project Duration: Project start: June 2023.
Construction starts: April 2024.
Project/Construction End: July 2024.

Location:
Osaka, Japan.
Operation Flow: The shop has an almost trapezoidal shape with two sides open to the corridor shared with all the other restaurants. The closed kitchen is set to be in the corner with two walls. It extends with the counter space along the large wall and ends with the coffee machine space that is placed specifically to serve morning commuters. To avoid awkward positions in the narrow space all tables in the hall are set to the same height as the bar counter.
Team Members: Tetsuya Matsumoto
Image Credits: Image #1: photographer ©Senichiro Nogami, Blarney, 2024.
Image #2: photographer ©Senichiro Nogami, Blarney, 2024.
Image #3: photographer ©Senichiro Nogami, Blarney, 2024.
Image #4: photographer ©Senichiro Nogami, Blarney, 2024.
Image #5: photographer ©Senichiro Nogami, Blarney, 2024.