As of the 27th of September, Helsinki will have a new addition to its cocktail/bistro style scene. Bar & Co is located in a beautiful Renaissance Revival building in the heart of the city, and is sure to have a lot to offer to a very particular social crowd. 

The space itself was designed by interior architect Joanna Laajisto with one great aspect in mind; to outlive the comings and goings of the trends and styles and last through time as the place you’ll always want to socialize in.  Looking at the design, this brief has been fulfilled by capturing the mod & clean Helsinki style. Specializing in fine wines and champagnes, the interior makes you understand that it is all about the refined and simplistic quality. This is a bar where simply by glancing through its 4 separate spaces you understand that it has nothing to do with quantity.

It was very important to Laajisto to create different themes for every room, while at the same time introducing a unity and continuity between them. As you enter the space, a large 6 meter long marble bar greets and invites you for a cocktail. The adjacent 'butcher’s room' with a large butcher’s block island, continues the essence of the ‘precious drinking’ attitude. The next room, which is called 'the library' with comfy sofas and lounge chairs carries on the sense of entertainment but welcomes a more intimate & quieter subject of conversation. By the introduction of small elements like a Persian rug and candles you have the birth of something smoother and closer which is taken to the next level in the final room called 'the smoking room'. Here the most intimate atmosphere is created, simply by introducing green wall paneling and built in cabinetry. Of course the tonal continuation from the library’s armchairs to these walls is all in the detail, which is greatly appreciated. It is in this exact room that the atmosphere of a bistro like space is ever present.

Using classic finishes like natural oak, white carrara marble and stark white walls, is what retains the sense of timelessness in all these rooms. However the designer also made sure that great detail was given to the little decorative items. Here it is all about detailing and originality. Some examples are the custom made textile birds ordered from the British artist Adigail Brown, the vintage copper cake molds used as tea light holders, and of course the copper candle sconces present throughout the space designed especially by the interior architect for Bar & Co. As many of us know it’s always those little things...