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After 20 busy years at the helm of a successful ready-to-wear line and the recent launch of a bespoke furniture collection, what’s a designer to do? Design a cocktail lounge, naturally.
Recently opened in the small Majorcan town of Deià, where Williamson lives part of the year, Nama Bar incorporates many of the designer’s signature design elements: intense color combinations and intricate patterns, plus a healthy dose of gorgeous, vintage-sourced furniture. “The bar design commission came about in the best possible way,” the designer says. “I’ve become good friends of the owners of Nama, a beautiful Asian restaurant in the village. The owners Namali and Linus decided to open a bar next to the restaurant and asked if I would help out. I remember their brief for the bar very clearly: They said they liked my personal interior style and wanted to create something which felt like an intimate gentlemen’s club—dark and intimate and a little bit sexy.”
A tempting offer indeed—and one that turned out to be a nice change of pace from the designer’s usual schedule, as well. “The project was lovely to work on as it didn’t involve board rooms and endless meetings,” laughs Williamson. “We just worked as friends and went with our instincts. It was a very organic collaboration with a shared common goal.”
Here, the designer gives us an inside peek.
“I’ve recently become much more involved in interior design projects and this for me was a perfect opportunity to express myself through a different creative output. My own furniture line is stocked at ABC Carpet & Home in New York City and I have a long-standing collection of my own wallpapers distributed through Osborne & Little, so I was able to draw on these archives and pick out some of my favorite designs for the bar.”
“The entrance area features a soft metallic menagerie design with monkeys, toucans, and butterflies woven into the design. The main cocktail bar area features deep blue painted walls and the ceiling between the original wooden beams is covered in my deep blue peacock feather wallpaper.”
“Keen to keep the bathrooms fun too, the girls have flamingos and the boys have parrots! All the furniture was sourced within Majorca from flea markets and local vintages stores. Each piece helps give the space a unique, one-of-a-kind feel.”
“I’ve always loved designing and making things happen with a limited budget, and this project was no exception. It was quite hard to find the perfect pieces I wanted in Majorca, but it made me think more creatively and the results are more special and personal.”
“I remember painting drinks tables and plant pots myself during the nights before the bar opened. It was quite labour-intensive yet therapeutic for me and so lovely to see the results and hear how people loved these pieces, yet they had no idea how they started out. That sense of transformation is always very satisfying.”
“The bar is open for the summer season and is headed up by an amazing mixologist called Charles from London. He has chosen the Waldorf Pisco as the bar’s signature cocktail. Taking the owners’ ethos based around fresh, less commonly used ingredients, the cocktail uses aromatic pisco, local apple, celery, eggs, and lemons with tequila, mezcal, and cachaça served with curried walnuts on the side. The bar design is important, of course, but the inventive cocktail program promises a few surprises and many reasons to return and toast to the summer in style!”
