A Tale Of Two Arches
Our design concept for Kricket’s latest opening in Brixton was barfly-moody meets under-the-arches cool. Styled for evening vibes and social weekenders. A lo-fi, relaxed scheme, perfect for late night drinks, cocktails and Kricket’s utterly delicious signature small plates. A bit grungier than Soho, we’ve styled Kricket Brixton with a dusky palette, painting the corrugated curves of the two railway arch ceilings in a knocked back pink terracotta. Which gives a welcome-in statement colour by day, and gets warmed by candle-glow lighting at night.
FF&E Styling
Crisp carrara white marble table tops and an eclectic array of mismatch refurbished vintage style Bentwood chairs gives the scheme a relaxed, airy and colonial feel. The restaurant arch features a signature bespoke communal sharing table for large groups. On the bar side, our 70s inspired metal framed banquettes make for a very comfortable, cool place to kick back and enjoy Kricket’s punchy, Indian-inspired cocktails & sharing plates.
Materials Palette
Leafy plants, antique furniture and vintage style fans give the space an airy, colonial feel. The distressed concrete floor, blackened mesh and patinated iron finishes throughout the bar and restaurant keep the terracotta pinks and nude paint palette urban and earthy rather than sweet and girlie. All of which creates the perfect backdrop for pops of Kricket’s amazing brand orange-red, which really zings out.
In the Details
The finishing details are always key to injecting soul into a design, and final styling is one of the most exciting parts of the build. In Kricket Brixton, during FF&E install week, artisan tiles around the kitchen pass were hand-painted, and our sign painters scaled ladders with a brush to hand finish the exterior branding and interior wayfinding. Before decorating the wait stations, walls and shelves with one-off Indian antiques and props to finish off the scheme, stacking shelves with the Kricket cookbook designed by our graphics team.
Day To Night
Kricket Brixton morphs easily from day to night, with low lighting from wall lights, a handful of pendants and table lamps creating pools of light. Candle light to the tables turns the two connected arches into a atmospheric space for late night drinks, cocktails and dining. The menu is a continuation of the lively, inspired cooking found in Kricket Soho, with a delicious menu of Indian inspired street-food dishes and bar snacks.
Styling The Bar
The main bar has a light touch design, with simple dark stained timber cladding and a fresh countertop, tan leather beer taps and refinished vintage Bentwood stools. A no frills, simple back-bar with low level lighting and ironwork shelving for bottles and glassware. Casual and relaxed.
Shutter Sweet
The site’s two arches had an existing rolling shutter, which we painted out in an inky dark shade of Farrow & Ball Blue Black. We then sketched ideas for a colourful mural which could adorn the metalwork. Kricket enlisted the spray-cool talents of a local Brixton graff artist to twist and fashion our ideas into a piece of graffiti-art, which was painted under cover of darkness before launch night.
Illustrations
The shopfront’s shutter design features a range of graffiti-interpretations of hand drawn sketches created as part of our cook book design.
