Nearly six decades since Audrey Hepburn stole the show, it’s now possible to follow in her delicate footsteps and have Breakfast at Tiffany’s on this side of the Atlantic. Portview has just completed Tiffany & Co’s first Blue Box Café in Europe, located on the lower ground floor of Harrods department store in Knightsbridge.
Doffing their cap in the direction of Tiffany’s flagship store on New York City’s Fifth Avenue, the stunning interior also includes unique design touches created exclusively by the Belfast based fit-out specialist. The brand’s iconic shade of Tiffany Blue is suffused throughout the interior, complemented by a mirror silver leaf ceiling that creates the illusion of dining inside one of Tiffany’s famed Blue Boxes. The Blue Box Café also pays homage to Tiffany’s heritage of craftsmanship and its greatest source of inspiration – nature itself – with striking amazonite stone features, oak parquet flooring and hand painted flora and fauna motifs. Careful consideration was also given to the ambient lighting scheme, with linear light strips placed behind the plush banquet seating and staircase handrail to subtly illuminate the space.
“We have a great relationship with Tiffany & Co., which is fundamentally built on our shared passion for delivering unrivalled quality, craftmanship and experiences to clients,” said Managing Director of Portview, Simon Campbell.
“The Blue Box Café is a perfect example of how Tiffany continually sets new benchmarks in retail design by creating highly immersive environments that resonate with customers. It has married classic retail design with hospitality elements to produce a unique, experiential space that seamlessly blends the old with the new to create a new modern classic.”
The Blue Box Café is not the first project that Portview has completed for Tiffany & Co or Harrods. In 2014 Portview’s Contracts Director Paul Scullion steered the £11m fit-out of Harrods’ fabulous footwear emporium Shoe Heaven, and as recently as 2018 the company concluded work on Tiffany’s unique ‘style boutique’ in the heart of London’s Covent Garden. It’s a far cry from the company’s origins in a former car showroom off the Ormeau Road.
Starting out as Deramore Developments, then becoming Portview Construction, it was in 2004 that the decision was made to focus exclusively on delivering high quality interiors for both the high street and high end brands. Re-branding as Portview, the company’s reputation for excellence (in 2019 it reached the milestone of two million working hours Riddor incident free) has seen it secure high profile projects for Harvey Nichols, Issey Miyake, Oscar de la Renta, Samsung, and Selfridges & Co. That the aforementioned brands are just a selection of Portview’s burgeoning portfolio probably tells you all you need to know.
Now recognized as world leaders, it is this experience, expertise, and consummate professionalism that was brought to bear on the Blue Book Café project. That and a sizeable sprinkling of vision and creativity. Playful touches and elegant finishes – such as the decadent marble bar top and fabric wall paneling – are quintessential to the core of the Tiffany brand.
The result is a memorable experience for anyone looking to unleash their inner Holly Golightly (that’s Audrey Hepburn’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s character to the uninitiated). Surrounded by Tiffany jewels, they can peruse an exclusive menu, with all dishes served on the Tiffany & Co. ‘Color Block’ bone china – just part of a beautiful Tiffany table-scape. Another dreamy design concept made reality by the Northern Ireland company with the growing global reputation.
Home and Away
Portview has completed a diverse range of exciting projects, including:
• Striking Grade A office building on Adelaide Street, Belfast, for M7 Real Estate
• Wembley Stadium’s exclusive One Twenty Club
• Samsung’s new showroom in the trendy Coal Drops Yard development
• The luxurious new Lincoln Suite in London’s Rosewood Hotel
• The world’s biggest Lush store and spa (in Liverpool)
• The new Dial Square hospitality lounge at Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium
Portview
T: +44 (0)28 9064 4765
www.portview.co.uk
