“It’s like Disneyland — you have to forget realities and enjoy the whole experience — the hospitality, interior design and cocktails served in Baccarat crystal”; that’s what Shingo Gokan had to say to The Manual about new Atlanta speakeasy Himitsu last year, the Japanese bartending expert having been installed as the reservation-only bar’s creative director. Baccarat crystal, suspended reality … clearly Himitsu is a speakeasy apart.
It would be an understatement to describe Himitsu (secret in Japanese) as swanky, Tom Dixon’s Design Research Studio have ensured that the cocktail bar — a sister venue to renowned Atlanta sushi restaurant/cocktail bar Umi — is to be categorised in the unmarked pigeonhole above High-end Premium. The London-based designer and his team have fashioned a dark, smoky-hued space with a mixture of custom sculptural elements and his own furnishings and lighting; an installation created using Dixon’s recently launched Melt pendants — inspired by molten metal and natural forms — lend an air of the ethereal to the central space. A ‘raw yet sophisticated aesthetic’ they call it, a Batcave for the swankiest sods in town — a post-industrial celebration of its team’s progressive vision.
Photography, Emily Andrews
