Founded by Bartenders Steve Locke, Rhys Oldfield and Leigh Miller, the first original Be At One Bar opened in Battersea Rise in 1998. Since then they have created 30 bars around the UK, with Birmingham being the 31st site.
Located on Piccadilly Arcade, just outside of the newly-revitalised New Street Station, Be At One is a destination cocktail bar serving over 150 drinks with an unbeatable party atmosphere in the heart of Birmingham city centre.
Fusion Design and Architecture, which has worked with the brand for eight years and developed many of the bars within the renowned chain, designed the late-night venue.
Solus Ceramics was thrilled once again to collaborate with Fusion Design and Architecture and supplied a variety of unique, exciting tile ranges to the bright, bold and energetic bar. The venue, which is situated at basement level, features a vast quantity of traditional-style tiles from the Opulence range.
The neutral, gloss tiles from the Opulence range were selected in two sizes to create a chic banded pattern and were paired with a detailed complementary decor tile. The neutral hues of the tiles provide a wonderful canvas for the complex mood lighting that changes periodically.
On the bar front, the designers selected a high-end, handmade hexagon tile in a serpentine-inspired emerald colour, making the focal point of the establishment really standout.
In the male bathrooms, marble-effect tiles from the Palace range were used on the walls and paired with plain grey tiles from the versatile Program range that were laid in a herringbone pattern. Solid grey, glass mosaics from the Glass Source range completed the space. Featuring similar wall and floor tiles to the adjacent male bathrooms, the female bathrooms were given a blush of colour with a pink mosaic.
Jonathan Richardson, Associate at Fusion Design and Architecture, said: “Be At One Bar in Birmingham has been a fantastic project to work on, seeing the transformation of a regular building into a unique, classy cocktail bar.
“One of the key aspects of the brief was to implement a design aesthetic that would be timeless. We specified Solus Ceramics’ Opulence range not only for its aesthetic appeal, but also because of its durability. Having worked with Solus Ceramics before, we knew that with the versatility of the tiles and the fantastic ranges of colours available, we would be able to implement the visually-appealing interior we were hoping to achieve.
“With the bar at basement level, there isn’t any natural light, so it was vitally important for us to implement bright and bold tiles to bring colour into the room. The Opulence range complements the decor of the bar and has allowed us to implement a design aesthetic that brings a new sense of style and vibrancy to Birmingham.”
Michael Irvine, Area Sales Manager at Solus Ceramics, said: “Using a variety of relatively traditional ranges, the designers have created something very unique, modern and interesting. I particularly like the look of the classical patterned Opulence decor paired with the field tile, which makes a real feature of the wall space in the bar.”
Solus Ceramics is an established porcelain, ceramic, glass, metal and natural stone tile supplier, offering a huge range of over 100,000 products, directly sourced from manufacturing partners. Tapping into strong manufacturer relationships and the company’s wealth of experience, Solus Ceramics consistently remains at the forefront of the latest developments and trends within the tiling industry.
Working with architects, interior designers and other professional specifiers, the company delivers technical and aesthetic solutions into a wide variety of tiling projects across Europe.