Berlin comprises of two rooms each a reference to the old East and West parts of the city with the central bar acting as a division.

“The owners are visionary guys who love literal references to places, and my aim was to ensure as many relevant German symbols and references could exist with subtlety but avoid overt kitch,” explained Yelena Beylin Perry of Arium Design who designed the venue.

The flight of stairs leading to the top floor bar entrance became transformed from a bright pink stairwell to a dark, industrial passageway lined with red velvet drapes and golden frames that depict scenes of Charlie Chaplin in the film ‘The Great Dictator’, thus
introducing the bar and its visual and comical contrasts.

West Berlin
The direction for the West Berlin room was to create a sense of opulence and indulgence and the decor was kept in reference to the three colours of the German flag - red, gold and black.

The main element iwas the application of bronze mirrors and tinted films to the interior, expanding the space and introducing beautiful and distorted reflections. A red, black and clear crystal curtain was suspended to screen the main seating area from the private booth area.

The booths’ black leather upholstery and retro chandeliers are offset by bevelled bronzed mirrors at eye level to create infinite reflections of the people seated in them, thereby rousing the narcissistic.

“The booth walls are clad in a classical monochrome wallpaper pattern I custom designed which, upon-close inspection, reveals it’s actually comprised of tiny German Shepherd heads,” said Yelena. “The main seating area is a flexible lounge space full of white leather cubes on a custom-designed ‘Tsar’ rug
depicting a wild and sexy dancer that the bar owners created as a reference to the Berlin disco scene.”

A mezzanine level is illuminated by a red neon sign reading ‘Ich Bin Ein Berliner’; [the story goes that

John F. Kennedy made a historical visit to Berlin and this line in his speech became famous because when translated the phrase ‘Ein Berliner’ was actually colloquially known as a jelly donut.]

Large photomurals were also imported from Germany depicting scenes of the Neuschwanstein castle and Gustav Klimt artwork to continue the ambience in the bathroom and hallway areas.

East Berlin
The transition from the West Berlin room to the East Berlin room was initially intended to be constructed as a ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ gateway but instead it was decided to downplay it and keep the transition minimal by using a large framed artwork of a woman as the threshold overseer. It takes about 10 seconds from stepping passed her to find yourself transported to a totally different place where chic opulence is entirely replaced by an industrial ‘under occupation’ feel.

Rather than recreating an authentic East Berlin replica interior of drab beige and brown, the design became focused on creating a hypothetical military resistance movement hide-out, complete with queen size bed for lounging, a lavish throne for plotting, a record player hutch for reminiscing, and three recycled bathtub tables with maps embedded in resin for interrogation and escape-planning.

The giant bulb interrogation lights were designed and supplied by German ex-pat Volker Haug. Stacked military shell cases topped with thick bronze tinted glass act as casual seating areas around the bar and projector screen.

The bottle-green brick walls are adorned in murals and second-hand artwork that has been deliberately graffitied with German symbols and text by local artist Claudio Manteca, also responsible for the hot-air balloon stencil suspended over the bar to allude to the historical escape attempts to the West made by some crafty East Berliners.

The bar is finished in textured black surfaces as the unobtrusive central divider between East and West to keep the attention centered within each room.