Chris has been a bartender in some of the city's best establishments for many years and has been a regular at Montauk from almost the beginning. He approached us with some basic ideas for what he wanted to update, and our main task was to make the space more accessible to a broader demographic. Industry regulars are amazing customers, and we needed to keep them in mind while developing a budget-friendly design that would be complete in under two months and be more approachable to other customers. Our brand strategy was to create a colour scheme and material selection that represented the true qualities of Montauk, New York, from where the bar gets its name. We wanted to bring in the feelings of brightness, coziness, and the seaside air while not leaning too hard on the "beachy vibes" that don't quite fit without being oceanside.  Our palette was born with terracottas, yellow, grey blues, and turquoise to play off what we saw as Montauks' underlying emotions. Our initial palette explorations for the brand evolved into an interior palette with a textural quality, with the most prominent finish change being the terracotta/sandy lime wash on all of the walls; the floors would get a checkered paint that was rough around the edges and allowed the rough concrete to show through. The existing concrete bar top would be acid-stained in a red/brown to keep the original texture but align closer with our updated palette. The bar face is clad in powder-coated corrugated metal to keep the industrial vibe alive but updated in a vibrate faded mint colour to keep with the new concept.  Throughout the interior, plants complete the space, making it feel warmer and more inviting. The lighting feels more like you are in a bohemian outdoor garden with string lights and jute rope pendants. Outdoor teak table tops are used to enforce the outdoor beachfront concept. To cap off the space, we produced a custom wheat paste mural as the focal point on the back wall. The main collage elements are old-school B&W illustrations with embellished brush stroke elements in brand-specific colours layered between the various wheat paste images. We chose all illustrations to align closely with the strategy and keep the space light and fun. We are excited to see how the space evolves and how new (and old) customers perceive it. Go check it out yourself, and let us know what you think!