Venus Spirits is a locally owned small batch distillery located at 247 Swift Street, Santa Cruz.
Owned and run by Sean and Grace Venus, the firm distills two gins, two whiskies and an agave from this location. The long term dream of Sean, Venus Spirits has a distincly hand crafted, local feel about it whilst boasting a very slick, classic identity that appeals to high end alcohol consumers across the generations. The Venus' approached Stripe in November 2014 to help them design a tasting room at their faciility. Above shows the external view of the building in their temporary state and below shows our design implemented.
We wanted the tasting room to nod to a 1920's style speakeasy, referencing darkened dramatic tones which we felt was a welcome relief from the recent extensive use of natural reclaimed or recyclyed timber.
Above is a rendering we produced for the bar area. Below is a photograph of the finished product from the same view.
Sean showed us a sample of blackened wood that he had made as an experiment in our second meeting. We leaped at the chance of working with such an experimental material. The bar is comprised of panels made up from varying depths of the material laid on the diagonal. The panels were then bookmatched. We selected some of the exposed edges of the thicker planks and apinted them with copper paint to highlight this detail.
The V and W motifs echoed again in the back bar shelving subtly reiterate the Venus Brand and the Wayward whiskey product. The copper bar top was fabricated by George Wilson Inc. It is beginning to build up a beautiful patina as the surface gets more and more use.
The choice of copper was dictated by the material from which the distilling vat is fabricated (see below).
The chalk board was written by a professional sign writer and features daily tastings. It is flush to the surrounding encaustic tile which is featured floor to ceiling.
The glass pendants and matching gooseneck wall sconces were hand crafted by Johnson Art Studio out of Watsonville.
We very much enjoy the edited patette of materials we used in this design and are delighted with the outcome.
