Martin Brudnizki Designs New ‘Hyper Glamorous’ Los Angeles Social Club
The Britely features a secluded supper club evocative of Hollywood’s Golden Age and a vivacious rooftop hangout
Known for his transportive hospitality spaces around the globe, designer extraordinaire Martin Brudnizki has unveiled a new social club in Los Angeles that transcends both time and place. Opening April 2, The Britely features a sexy restaurant and bar inside, plus a tropical rooftop lounge equipped with poolside seating and sweeping views of the city skyline.
“The client said they wanted something ‘hyper glamorous,’” Brudnizki tells Galerie. “For me to be able to design something as abstract as that, I needed to find and build a narrative: What is hyper-glamorous in West Hollywood? Of course, it was Hollywood itself, the film industry, and those incredibly evocative images that came through during the late 1940s and ’50s.”
To give the indoor restaurant a cinematic quality, Brudnizki sheathed the rooms in high-gloss lacquer and gilded the ceilings with mirrored accents. “The reason we picked the pink walls is because the reflection of that color will make everyone look 2o years younger,” laughs Brudnizki, one of Galerie’s 2020 Creative Minds. “I love color, but what I really think about when I paint a room a certain hue is what it will do with light through the day, afternoon, evening, and night because it’s very important to always feel comfortable, warm, and welcoming.”
By swathing the space in reflective materials, the London-based designer was able to give the room sparkle and shine, bouncing the light from the custom fixtures around the space. The main bar, crafted to conjure the illusion of a starlet’s vanity mirror, is surrounded by marquee-like bulbs with two cascading chandeliers bookending the dramatic marble-top counter that’s surmounted by a curvilinear ceiling fixture. “For me lighting is everything,” he says. “Through light you can change the mood of any interior.”
Punctuating those blush walls is a remarkable collection of art, among them graphic works by Sarah Awad and Megan Cotts, chosen in collaboration with Tiffany Lendrum of L.A.’s Lendrum Fine Art. In other spaces, exuberant House of Hackney wallcoverings create a bold look. “A lot of people would put that in and say this is very strong, so we need to make everything very quiet,” Brudnizki says of the ubiquitous palm print he used in one of The Britely’s powder rooms and paired with a heavily veined green marble and brass palm ceiling light. “I took a different direction and said let’s just amp everything up.”
In addition to food by two-Michelin-star chef Wolfgang Puck, who is making his return to the Sunset Strip, The Britely offers recreational spaces like a debonair bowling alley and 24-hour gym, as well as screening rooms and a music venue. Offering guests another place to congregate is the Brudnizki-designed rooftop pool court. An L.A.–based friend of the designer suggested that the two most important things are the city’s sunshine and green spaces, so Brudnizki filled the area with as many plantings as possible and plush custom seating in a softer palette of blues, greens, and pinks.
The color palette reflects the gentle aqua of the soigné pool, California sky, and Hollywood Hills background. “These light, fresh colors make it relaxed and soft but with a design intent, not making it too bohemian,” says Brudnizki.
Pops of brass give the gentle atmosphere moments of Tinseltown shine. “It’s about sparkle and reflection,” adds the designer. “I grew up in Stockholm and brass is the metal everyone uses. I always loved it because of the warmth. I will unashamedly put on the ceiling and I’ll use it on lots of details everywhere because it adds that wonderful warm glow. You can’t get enough of glamour, especially now.”
Martin Brudnizki Designs New ‘Hyper Glamorous’ West Hollywood Social Club
