Design a bar with its own identity, which has the same purpose as our magazines: tell stories, inspire and inform. We went to work for media publishing company Sanoma with that mission, as they wanted their head office entrance lobby to be more than just a reception desk.

The result is a bar concept with different zones such as the “sections” of a magazine. The bar provides the same feeling as the Sanoma magazines to visitors, readers and its own staff. When you enter the place it must feel like looking through a magazine.

In the ‘gossip lounge’, you can chat without being disturbed. In the “home zone” you can relax on the sofa. The “meet and greet” area has a long table to run meetings and can be closed. In the middle you will find the ’greenhouse’, a wooden pavilion structure with plants and herbs. And for old-fashioned cosiness, there is the “DIY – zone”.

We used a lot of graphics and typographic elements. We also added accessories that visitors can actually buy. The interior is a collage with something for everyone, a mix of different features and styles that cannot be captured in one word. It became anything but a classic media café.

Just like Sanoma’s magazines, Bar Marie has a story to tell. Different structures function just like ‘sections’ in a magazine; This way, the bar keeps it’s fixed layout but can change content on a monthly base

A custom designed curtain serves as a seperation wall for the informal meeting room. The curtain was custom woven on a jaquard loom at Textilelab Tilburg. The patterns contains flowers and scribbles. When you look at it from a distance you can discover the face of Marie.