THE NORTHERN CLUB
PROJECT:
The Northern Club Bankside Bar & Lounge
DESIGNER/KITCHEN MAKER:
DBJ
LOCATION:
Auckland City
TYPE:
Hospitality
“There’s pleasure in appreciating the craft of beautiful, handmade natural products and this delight lies at the success of the renovation of the Bankside Bar and Lounge at the Northern Club in Auckland City, anchored by the fine solid timber work done by The Woodsmiths.
The elegant bar and intricate wall units which underpin the rest of the richly crafted interiors in the bar, have helped create an extraordinary environment for one the most prestigious dining rooms and bars in the city. Moreover, it is central to the modernisation of a 150-year-old club that is the second home to high-flying Auckland-based professionals who make up its discerning members—a modernisation that still recalls the traditions and longevity of the ‘city club’.
Cabinetmakers looking for specialists to fabricate exclusive solid timber creations inevitably turn to the experts—The Woodsmiths—who have been fashioning handmade, bespoke solid wood projects like this for over 30 years and the skill they’ve developed over that time has never been on display as effectively as it is here.
Doors featuring dowels like this are a traditional design not often seen these days and certainly not in New Zealand but they perfectly illustrate the outstanding skills of The Woodsmiths’ team of craftspeople.
The Bankside project was completed using stained American oak and walnut, currently the Woodsmiths’ clients’ most popular choices, but there are many different timbers they work with, providing an enormous range of finishes, colours and grains. These timbers can also be matched to existing native timber flooring in residential spaces.
The hardwood timbers that The Wordsmiths use are both extremely strong and durable and also sustainably sourced—something more and more people are becoming concerned with.”