Chin, chin! Asprey’s new Peninsula London boutique raises the bar
Asprey barware designs from the house’s joyful, jazz-era back catalogue are available at its new boutique in The Peninsula, London
One of the distinctive things about Asprey, the legendary British luxury house, is that, because it’s been around so long – since 1781 – it's got a perpetual vault of truly classic designs to reconsider whenever current tastes demand. Asprey barware is a fine example. In the inter-war years, the luxury department store was quick to appeal to the new social mix of white-collar office managers and louche high-society types who had taken to speakeasy jazz clubs, apartment living and cocktail bars like an olive takes to a dirty martini.
Asprey barware worth celebrating
The apartments and cocktail bars were symbolic of the new modish way of life, as young professionals swooped in on new-build art deco city flats, trundling in stylish bar trolleys as soon as they turned a key in the door. The Asprey catalogue was not far behind, and the company responded to the hedonistic glamour of the cocktail era with a range of witty, beautifully designed art deco Asprey barware, in line with fashionable tastes. And so it was that the at-home pre-dinner soirée became a thing.
It’s fitting, then, that the bar area at the new Asprey boutique at The Peninsula London inhabits the hotel’s key architectural ground-floor spot – a sheer sweep of floor-to-ceiling windows towards the historical London junction where Hyde Park Corner meets Wellington Arch. The ‘A’ silver-plated drinks trolley with symmetrical circular frame takes pride of place in the 213 sq m space, designed by Robert Storey of Storey Studio, the London-based architectural practice behind Asprey’s flagship Bruton Street London store.
There, Storey established a palette of Georgian-influenced muted purples and greens, which is replicated at The Peninsula London boutique, creating a seamless interior for specific areas, from handbags to silks, punctuated with museum-like vitrines.
The colours come into their own in this light-filled London thoroughfare, all the better to enjoy the jewel-like decanters, soft-hued champagne flutes and shimmering silverware that light up the bar area, inspiring a longing for a more glamorous life. Or, at the very least, a gin cobbler gaily poured from an Asprey Bobsleigh cocktail shaker.
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Caragh McKay is a contributing editor at Wallpaper* and was watches & jewellery director at the magazine between 2011 and 2019. Caragh’s current remit is cross-cultural and her recent stories include the curious tale of how Muhammad Ali met his poetic match in Robert Burns and how a Martin Scorsese Martin film revived a forgotten Osage art.
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