Mr. Fogg’s House of Botanicals is a unique space that reimagines the theme bar genre for modern audiences who are increasingly seeking more sensorial, immersive forms of consumption and entertainment - especially those that blur fantasy and reality.
Rooted in the idea of ‘lived storytelling’ the design is based on the 19th Century Jules Verne adventure novel Around the World in Eighty Days and its British protagonist, Phileas Fogg. Capturing the story’s essence - invention, discovery, the wonder of nature and travel to exotic lands - the two-storey building has been revived and recast (following two years of lying vacant) as a Victorian townhouse. It includes a gin parlour, VIP conservatory room and a spiral staircase inspired by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, which descends to the ground floor amid an impressive throng of plants - some soaring to 11ft tall. Downstairs, more lush plant life, aptly pooled from all over the globe, is choreographed around a central seating booth, walls are lined with cases and cloches of taxidermy, and café tables come topped with a herringbone pattern of sage green and white marble.
Emphasising a subtly theatrical sense of deception a bathroom voiceover recounts an epic expedition while bespoke floral aromas envelop both floors.
Other key details include wallpaper by William Morris, the 19th Century pioneer of Britain’s Arts & Crafts movement, bespoke upholstery, reworked vintage portraiture and lounge chairs with individualised limbs