Tetsuya Matsumoto · CLIENT: The Blarney Stone
Blarney is an interior design for an Irish pub and cafe in Osaka, Japan. The space serves customers from early morning to late night. The counter back cabinet uses pivoting doors that alternate between shelves for alcoholic beverages and shelves for cafe utensils. Heavy traditional decoration is replaced by monochrome art painted directly on the walls, showing Irish cultural elements and interpretations of iconic posters. All tables share the same height as the bar counter to suit the narrow space. The total floor area is 70.78 square meters.
Press Kit
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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