Corian^® solid surface makes a big splash at Scott’s seafood restaurant

Seafood specialist Scott’s of Mayfair, long one of London’s landmark restaurants, recently enjoyed a stylish interior face-lift. An updated homage to the restaurant’s heyday of 40s elegance, the redesign features subtle marine motifs such as a fish-scale mosaic floor, scallop-edged bar stools, dolphin tail ice buckets – and a spectacular boat-shaped Corian^® centrepiece to display the daily catch.

Designer Martin Brudnizki commissioned Future Systems architects, known for the visionary, sculptural quality of their work, to design the centrepiece and a series of other key installations. 

A remarkable piece of fabrication work by Cutting Edge, this crustacean display unit stands proud in the centre of the bar area and is topped up daily with ice and a mouth-watering array of frutti di mare. In the cool Glacier White colour of Corian^®, the design has a sensual quality that distinguishes it as a Future Systems’ concept, but also serves a practical purpose. With proper cleaning, the durable surface will not support the growth of mould or mildew, a characteristic so vital for a food service environment. Furthermore, Corian^® is nonporous and offers a thermal inertia that makes it ideal for holding the vast quantities of ice required to keep the seafood fresh.

Corian^® material appears elsewhere in the Scott’s scheme, putting its combination of outstanding design versatility and superb functionality to work on equally sculptural service trolleys and dramatically thermoformed and seamlessly integrated vanity units in the ultra-chic restrooms (also designed by Future Systems and fabricated by Cutting Edge).

Amanda Levete of Future Systems specified Corian^® because, “our designs express themselves through complex geometry and organic form. In Corian^®, we have found the perfect material with which to realise our designs. The advanced production techniques of CNC milling and thermoforming have enabled us to materialise our digital data as soft and fluid yet solid pieces with a level of complexity that is hard to achieve with other materials. The performance and aesthetic qualities of Corian^® have allowed us to create smooth, seamless finishes with the precision and tactility these designs demand."

Matthew Hobbs, General Manager of Scott’s said, “It’s fair to say that the crustacean centrepiece has been a fantastic success and the source of many favourable comments. Aesthetically it’s very pleasing, but practically it also works very well and we are thrilled with it. The same goes for the trolleys and the basins in the restrooms, which have also been very effective and the starting point of many conversations.”