Fettle nods to Grand Milanese design at Liverpool’s San Carlo restaurant

Images: James McDonald and Helen Cathcart

London and LA-based studio Fettle has unveiled San Carlo Liverpool as their most recently completed project – the first in partnership with the Italian restaurant group. Taking inspiration from ornate Grand Milanese villas and gardens and the avant-garde architecture of Piero Portaluppi, the team has completely refreshed the existing space, turning it into a contemporary fine dining experience that’s anything but shy and retiring.

A feature bar provides a centrepiece, accompanied nearby with a private dining room; on the floor below the Rosa Room & Wine Cellar resides. Across both levels a palette synonymous with northern Italy is evident, influenced heavily by coastlines and partnered with classic Italian mid-century furniture. “The existing restaurant had a fantastic volume and was blessed with a generous amount of natural light due to the huge number of windows and its dual aspect,” comments Andy Goodwin, Fettle’s co-founder and creative director. “[We wanted to] ensure that the bar spoke more directly with the street outside and had its own character from the rest of the restaurant which resulted in us introducing a different floor finish, furniture and palette.”

Green, orange and cream tones feature across the terrazzo flooring while the colourway of the walls nod to Venetian taxis and luxury Italian sports cars. An eclectic and striking mix of artwork further embellishes the walls including three oversized bespoke and abstract murals by LA-based artist, Jessalyn Brooks, positioned on the rear wall of the restaurant and opposite the bar.

Overhead the lighting adds a softness to the interior with a bespoke mix of statement chandeliers, pendant fittings, wall lights and table lamps – including candy-striped bespoke Murano Chandeliers realised by a team of expert manufacturers in Venice.

“We wanted to introduce a much softer and more colourful palette to the space retaining the light airy nature of the restaurant, however injecting colour into the finishes wherever possible,” adds Goodwin. To achieve the latter, Fettle introduced a bold coral colour to the ceiling which doubles-up as acoustics.

When it comes to materials the studio opted for a rich and dramatic curation of marble, high gloss, timber and brass detailing, softened with layered mohair, leather and patterned fabric upholstery. “It would be incredibly easy for the space to feel monotonous should we have used a single dining chair, for example,” notes Goodwin.

Instead, Fettle used a mixture of bespoke dining chairs including burnt orange leather and velvet banquette seating and fluted oak bar stools with brass bases and green leather seats. “We designed two different banquette styles to separate the restaurant and bar as well as utilising three styles of stools, two different styles of wall lights and two ceiling lights designs,” Goodwin says. “These were incredibly well made – and provide a great place on which to enjoy a drink before dinner.”