For A-nrd studio, the Lina Stores Shoreditch project blossomed from a trip to Italy. The founder of the London-based multidisciplinary London design studio’s founder, Alessio Nardio, who now leads it alongside his creative partner, Lukas Persakovas, hails from Italy, where he spent summers in a small village in the Apuane MountainsAlps, known for its Carrara marble.

When the studio began work on the new Shoreditch location of Lina Stores, a series of thoughtfully designed Italian delicatessens and restaurants, Nardio had already planned a trip to go see his parents in Italy. He used the trip as an opportunity to gather inspiration, combined with memories of his grandmother’s village in Tuscany.

“It was good to actually focus a bit more during my trip,” he says.” I’m trying to see from a designer point of view what we could bring into the project and having a little bit more of an observative eye for a specific point. I brought back quite a few pictures that we used in our initial research.”

Portrait by Adam Lynk

Nardio and Persakovas focused their vision on post-war European brasseries, creating an open and cheery restaurant that takes its cues from the historic 1868 bank it’s housed in. The duo is noaren’t strangers to historical projects. Their past work reviving historic spaces with fresh flair was a big part of why the client approached them.

“When you work with a historical building, the design really starts and evolves on-site, rather than just on paper,” Nardio says. “You really have to take into consideration existing finishes, and it’s almost like the design departs from there. You have to work with the builders from day one to ask them to uncover certain elements, see what they want to reveal, and what it doesn’t make sense to.”

Photo by Adam Firman

Stripping away the modern additions was the first order of business at the Lina Stores Shoreditch project. The studio preserved as many elements as possible, including the original Victorian mosaic- tiled floors, floorboards, timber- panelled walls, and steel columns. It is indicative of the studio’s consistent commitment to use what is already available and repurpose or upcycle whenever possible. “The common sort of thread is we care about sustainability, and we always have a little bit more of a stripped-back sort of approach to design,” Nardio says. “We tend to not over design and be very sort of mindful of our intervention as designers.”

The result here is a space that perfectly blends Old World charm with concise contemporary elegance. Coffered ceilings add an air of grandeur, while exposed- plaster walls create a playful twist on history. Dark oak panelling and bistro chairs complement Formica, Verde Guatemala, and oak tabletops, and a large curtained cloakroom closet—designed by A-nrd—is framed in matching wood. Lina Stores’ signature pistachio green colour is woven throughout: —on the chair upholstery and the bar façade, painting wall niches, and drenching the spindly steel columns.

Photo by Mark Anthony Fox

Photo by Mark Anthony Fox

Downstairs, through an unmarked door is an expected twist: Bar Lina. The studio transformed the bank’s lower level into a sultry monochromatic speakeasy washed in rich cherry red. Reflective elements, like the high-gloss ceiling and walls and mirrored runners, add a sense of mystery. The old bank vault was reimagined a semi-private sunken cocktail den clad in plush burgundy carpeting—one of Nardio’s favourite parts of the project.

Though Bar Lina, with its black- oak floors and red chenille sofas, is a contrast to the soaring ceilings and sun-bathed bistro seating upstairs, a sense of harmony exists between the two spaces, which Nardio credits to a consistent palette of materials—polished marble accents, metal, stainless steel, and velvet. “The colours are essentially different, but the materiality that we use is very similar,” Nardio says. “Also, our general approach is visible in both spaces. We kept the architectural very raw.”

Photo by Mark Anthony Fox

Photo by Mark Anthony Fox

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