We have been commissioned by leading Italian restaurant group Strada to refurbish and reinvigorate some of its key existing sites while working to tight budgets. The brief was to recapture the essence of the brand, to create restaurants that are bright and welcoming, unpretentious yet sophisticated. A stripped-back palette of contemporary materials and colours was selected, including walls finished in fresh pistachio shades and banquettes reupholstered in brown tweed. Ercol dining chairs and Anglepoise task lights reinforce the sophisticated atmosphere that blends the best of Italian and British design. An initial batch of four sites has been completed, including St Katharine’s Dock in London (pictured), with more in the pipeline. The other completed site are; Panton Street in London and the Strada restaurants in Reading and Sheffield.