Jigsaw

Wallop Restaurant, Glyndebourne

To mark the 75th anniversary of the Glyndebourne Festival, the interior of the flagship Wallop restaurant was imaginatively re-designed by Nigel Coates and his team. Using serpentine banquettes, towering waiter stations and a series of interconnecting levels, their design defines many distinct areas that can accommodate more than 300 covers. The project is appropriately imbued with a sense of theatre. Patrons often recognise props sequestered from past Glyndebourne productions including a large-scale mural from La Traviata.

Middle and Over Wallop Restaurant, Glyndebourne 2009

Katharine Hamnett, Glasgow

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The world of fashion was the first to take up Nigel Coates’ design abilities and put them into commercial practice. In their respective ways, designers Jasper Conran and Katharine Hamnett understood that a narrative environment would relax the customer, and ease them into the shopping experience. It would also support the spirit of their brands, and expand them into a way of living. Whether a shop is based on a ‘house’, an exotic palace or an open landscape, the principle is the same - to introduce the customer to an ‘exploratorium’ in which the product is almost incidental but ultimately desirable. To purchase means to take part of the experience home.