High above Hong Kong’s skyline, where The Henderson tower rises with its fluted glass façade, Toronto- and Milan-based Studio Paolo Ferrari unveils a new bar on level 38. Named for the green gemstone, Peridot is both abstract and strangely familiar, a space that feels as if you’ve stumbled into a room from a film you can’t quite place. Even more remarkable is that the design easily holds its own against Zaha Hadid’s otherworldly sculptural design.
The eponymous gem’s hue runs throughout. A soft green plastered surface wraps walls and ceilings in one seamless gesture, punctuated by a matrix of frosted acrylic cylinders capped in steel. The effect is enveloping – plush mohair seating tucked into carved alcoves, high-gloss lacquered furnishings catching the light, all of it orbiting the green marble bar with its swirling, veined mass. Behind it, a private room reveals a bespoke stainless steel and marble bottle display, each cantilevered holder engineered as much as sculpted.
The design draws on the intimacy of old-world smoking rooms without leaning on nostalgia. ‘In all of us, there’s a yearning for the past, which brings us comfort, and the excitement, energy, and awe sparked by the new,’ Ferrari explains.
The clients, Cathy Chui Lee and her husband Lee Ka Shing – chairman and managing director of Henderson Land Development, the tower’s developer – shared Ferrari’s vision from the start. ‘Working with Paolo was nothing short of revelatory,’ Chui Lee notes. ‘At Peridot, there isn’t a single straight line; every curve honours the building’s fluid form. We began by deconstructing a disco ball – not for glamour, but to capture its essence: light, refraction, intimacy.’
Joining the drinks is an equally imaginative snacks menu. Chef Lisandro Illa, whose background spans Noma and his own Madrid-based culinary art gallery Morfo, concocts an entirely plant-based menu that includes nut-based cheeses and charcuterie, watermelon ‘tuna’, and fermented creations using koji and natto. The quarterly rotations transform the madly creative nibbles into something more akin to collectable gastro-journeys than simple drinking.
There’s live music most evenings – saxophonist, pianist, and DJ for the musically indecisive – and at 38 floors up, getting high has never felt more literal.
Peridot is located at Summit 38, 38/F, The Henderson, 2 Murray Road, Central, Hong Kong.