La Bellezza, Birmingham - Restaurant Banquette Seating

Photography credit to Jerome Galland.

Approached by the designers at Big Mamma Group, Atlas Contract Furniture were presented with a substantial brief for their first UK restaurant outside of London. La Bellezza is an Italian restaurant situated in Birmingham's Chamberlain Square that seats 150.

Taking inspiration from their restaurant of the same name in Lille, Paris, the design includes long stretches of banquette seating breaking up the large space at the front of the restaurant, with smaller lengths of seating built-in to the more intimate areas surrounding the bar and kitchen. 

With tight deadlines in mind, we built a prototype on a fast turnaround to help the designers visualise the colour scheme and finishing touches. This proved beneficial on deciding the final design.

The original design, as can be seen in the prototype, featured a deep burnt orange luxe velvet upholstery cover, a head roll on the back and a fringed thread trim to match the walnut plinth. Upon seeing this design come to life with the prototype unit, the designers opted for a simpler seating design with a toned down colour choice to fit better with other elements of the interior, including Murano glass chandeliers and tumbling ivy. 

Needing the seating to be soft and comfy, we added in a layer of soft foam to the seats and backs to provide additional plushness. To ensure a seamless design for the seating in the main front area of the restaurant, curved back ends were added. Finally, we also added lift off seats to provide storage. Lift off or hinged storage is an excellent practical option that we can easily accommodate for.

The final product is beautiful mix of where old meets new. The banquettes offer guests a comforatble seat to admire the rest of the beautiful interior and the delicious food. We are incredibly proud of this project and it was an absolute pleasure to work on. 

"My experience with Atlas Contract Furniture has been really great. Smooth communication and the flexibility and speed at dealing with changes was second-to-none. The finished product is even better than what I pictured, the banquettes look super elegant and refined. I would 100% work with Atlas Contract Furniture again." - Caterina Fiore, Designer for Big Mamma Group.