We’re delighted to announce that Skof in Manchester has just been awarded ‘One to Watch’ at the prestigious National Restaurant Awards 2024 this week.
Congratulations to Tom Barnes and team.
” Skof might offer a 15-course tasting menu, but it’s being pitched as something that is informal and energetic: a star-chasing restaurant for a city that likes to party. “
One to Watch 2024
We’re thrilled to see that Simon Rogan’s Michelin-starred Aulis featured in the National Restaurant Awards List 2024.
Congratulations to Simon Rogan and team.
” In 2023, the restaurant underwent a major glow up that saw it double in size to 12 covers and become more of a complete restaurant experience thanks to the addition of a new adjoining lounge area for guests to have drinks before or after dinner. Design details include a striking stone countertop that spans the main dining space, rich green furnishings and earthy tones alongside warm hues and multi-textural accents. “
National Restaurant Awards List 2024
We’re absolutely thrilled to have been made a finalist for’ Best Design Firm of the Year’ by the @mix.interiors awards.
As a studio, we strongly believe in the power and value of being strategy-led with a collaborative, inclusive and independent culture and are always looking to evolve with bringing forward-thinking ideas, innovative partnerships, and sustainable solutions to our client partners.
Well done to our hugely talented team – keeping our fingers crossed for the awards evening.
Driving Customer Engagement with the Power of Branding
Paul Mann, our Brand & Creative Strategy Director & Partner recently shared his expertise and insight into creating engaging customer brand experiences at #tothetableforum in Vienna alongside @myfabtravelbook @shangrilahotels and @ennismore
Our founder, Tim Mutton, was invited to participate in a panel discussion at the Global Hospitality Talk held at Raffles in London. The panel explored strategies for future-proofing hospitality brands by focusing on emotive design and improving guest experiences. Topics of discussion ranged from the longevity of design concepts to meeting the evolving expectations of luxury guests. Key insights included debates on whether AI might eventually replace human emotion in design, the importance of providing tailored services for Generation X, and Piers Schmidt’s keynote address highlighting the discrepancy in brand value between hotel brands and those in other luxury sectors.
We enjoy hosting ‘Lunch & Learn’ workshops as an opportunity for our flock to keep up to date with the ever growing design and experience possibilities within the hospitality space. This month, we were lucky enough to have Business Design Scent visit the hub and share their scent offering. It was enlightening to understand more about the versatility, process and bespoke opportunities of diffusing scent within hospitality settings.
20 years ago, Blacksheep’s founder, Tim Mutton sought to change the landscape of hospitality and design industries for the better and took the gamble of setting up his own London design agency.
Today, Blacksheep has grown into an internationally acclaimed creative studio, partnering with brands around the world to create powerful and meaningful hospitality brand experiences. This year marks an incredible milestone for our studio as we celebrate our 20th anniversary. Join us as we reflect on two successful decades of groundbreaking design, exploring the past, present and future at Blacksheep.
We are honoured by the recognition of all our creative, design and implementation efforts with the Glenlivet Distillery winning Best Design at the 2022 BIID Design Awards held at the Drapers Hall in London.
I feel that this project truly demonstrates all the best in our studio through the collaborative multidisciplinary qualities that it brings to bear across Strategy, Brand, Interior Design and Architecture.
It is also extremely pleasing to see the Glenlivet Distillery Win Europe’s Leading Whisky Distillery Tour at The World Travel Awards 2022.
Thank you JH Pernod Ricard, BIID & everyone associated with the project.
Creative Partnerships Benefitting Hospitality
Our Brand & Creative Strategy Director Paul Mann joined a panel discussion focusing on how hospitality design is evolving through partnerships and creative experiences.
Paul and the panel discussed how Montcalm East worked with Blacksheep and Culture A to curate a bespoke art collection that reflects its East London surroundings. By working with a variety of local designers and social enterprises as well as offering photography residencies for students of Ravensbourne university, the hotel supports emerging artists while offering a unique hospitality experience to guests.
Flock Day Out! We headed over to the Surrey Hills for a private tour and tasting from some of the finest English wine, gin and beer producers in the region.
Big thanks to:
The launch of the Lucan took place in July at the JW Marriott, Grosvenor House, the very first standalone Autograph Residences in Mayfair, London.
I’m extremely proud of the Strategy and Branding team achievements in supporting Gulf Islamic Investments (GII) and Grid Properties in the creation of the brand and its execution. It feels like a very defining moment for Paul and the project team Sophie, Mica, Daniel and Chloe who have produced pieces of stand out design work in a new category for Marriott International and our wonderful partners.
We have officially moved into Borough Yards!
“Located a stone’s throw from Borough Market, and within its landmark development, TOG at Borough Yards takes inspiration from the surrounding medieval streets, the famous Borough Market and the emblematic brick arches of the area – with ironwork, textured glass and glazed bricks. Designed with Studio David Thulstrup, you’ll discover a striking, modern lounge with fantastic views overlooking London Bridge, and a timeless, harmonious environment where your teams can connect and grow.”
“The reimagined St. Regis Bar experience creates a welcoming atmosphere that epitomizes Northern California luxury, with rich textures and soft metallics that pay tribute the city’s unique vistas. The award-winning London-based design firm Blacksheep imbued the space with a colourful, lively, and stylish personality designed to captivate the imaginations of travellers and locals alike.”
“The new restaurant has a contemporary yet elegant French-inspired interior. Normandy artist Claire de Quénetain has worked to deliver the spirit of France with a series of bespoke mural artworks throughout the restaurant. With an open and inviting feel, show-stopping roof lanterns, Crittall windows and Art Deco accents, the evolved look enables the restaurant to smoothly transition from daytime dining to an ambient space perfect for celebratory evening meals.”
“First good point: the room, completely redecorated by the British agency Blacksheep, bypasses all the expected clichés as soon as we touch Japanese gastronomy. Art Deco crystal luminaires diffuse soft light, creating a subdued atmosphere just enough. In the center, a large granite table of honor faces the semi-open kitchen, like a theater stage..”
“Curious customers waited for hours at an East London shopping mall to get a taste of the Louisiana-based restaurant’s fried chicken.”
“Like champagne or wine, whisky can feel quite intimidating for people who don’t feel ‘in the know’. “Our task was to make the experience both entertaining and educational, as well as really accessible.”
Opening up at two landmark sites in London at St Pauls and Tower Bridge – we are proud to announce a total of 165 stores designed and completed for Five Guys UK! The team visited the Kings Cross branch back in November 2019 to celebrate our 100th store, and hoping we can have lunch together soon to celebrate the next milestone. We’re also meeting the next challenge by adapting our kitchen and restaurant designs based on the current COVID restrictions.
We were very happy to hear that our design for Bafarat in Soho made the shortlist for the 2020 Restaurant & Bar Design Awards in the UK café category. Unfortunately this year the event was completely virtual, but we able to put it on the big screen in the studio and raised a few glasses in celebration. We highly recommend visiting the café for their newly launched afternoon tea…
In a complex time of significant transformation with the design industry IFI D2D got in touch with our founder Tim Mutton to discuss how this will affect the future of hospitality design. The world has been disrupted more than we ever imagined, but could this be an opportunity to positively reset our approach and transform the way we use spaces and experience them?
Having designed the Jeddah cafe for Bafarat in 2016, we were delighted to be asked to imagine and bring to life their second cafe here in London. We wanted to capture the rich history and essence of Jeddah’s coffee culture with the fusion of contemporary French Patisserie, and the vibrancy and diversity of London. Anji Connell got in touch to write a feature piece about the project in Hong Kong based magazine, ‘Home Journal’.
We were approached by this iconic and luxurious hotel in the heart of Paris to update their restaurant and bar offer. We worked on the brand strategy, visual identity and naming for the Parisian Lounge Bar and the interior design for both spaces. On the 7th September, ‘1920’ launched at Prince De Galle, embracing rituals of a bygone era for blissful relaxation and seasonal events.
At Blacksheep we host ‘Lunch & Learn’ with our favourite suppliers. This month we were lucky to have Carl Hansen & Søn visit the studio to show off their new wishbone chairs. Driven by a passion for craft, their products hero simple, functional and iconic Danish design. They even let us have a chance to try a bit of weaving ourselves!
Our founder, Tim was invited to travel to Budapest for the annual HOTCO event. He shared his thoughts on combining his passion for adventure, hospitality, travel, and design with his in-depth knowledge of the practical and operational aspects of a business. ‘At Blacksheep, we believe in challenging the norm, avoiding similarity to help hospitality brands evolve, stand out and grow. I’m humbled that Blacksheep is recently recognised as a leading interior design practice’.
We’re pleased to announce that we are now working with Cardo Hotels, a mice-forward brand focussing on creating hospitality experiences for individual wellbeing and corporate culture. Our team visited all three sites and delved into the local neighbourhoods, history, food culture and the surrounding competition, to help us carve out a unique brand positioning. We are currently working on three sites in Brussels, Rome and Paris and will be sharing more soon. Watch this space.
For the owners of St Regis, San Francisco to help Blacksheep define the new F&B strategy for the Luxury Collection hotel, to understand the west coast F&B vibe and collect insights on culture, history and heritage.
In April we took a trip to Porto to visit JN Tower – our hotel site in the heart of the city. Our brand team immersed themselves in the old town, ate in local tabernas, and met the employees of Porto’s famous newspaper, ‘Jornal de Notícias’ who are still working in the building.
Located in the heart of Costa Smeralda, we worked on a selection of F&B offers within two resorts Hotel Cervo and Cala de Volpe. We were happy to find out that Wallpaper Magazine and Condé Nast Traveller both published articles dedicated to showcasing our approach on designing a ‘contemporary luxury’ space for Cervo hotel’s in-house restaurant.
Eton Mess, Jamaican Chicken, Swedish meatballs. These are just some of the many delicious dishes the Flock made for our new initiative: Potluck picnic. Once a month we will all tighten the strings on our aprons and mix up a dish to share with the rest of the team. As a studio devoted to food and beverage, our Potluck Picnic is the perfect way for all of us to get together and catch up.
To kick off our first edition, we had a theme that took advantage of our diversely multicultural team: Bring something from your homeland. This resulted in a spectacularly colourful platter of food from across the globe. We piled our plates high, talked about flavours and traditions, and ate together in the sunshine.