Pairing people and products, like pairing wine and food.
Last month was an incredible one with Wellington on a Plate, but we just can’t seem to get food and wine off the mind…
We love to design unique interiors. Over the years we’ve designed bespoke spaces for hospitality and retail businesses. Proffer leans on this experience to create quality products that deliver unique design experiences for the people that engage with them. And it’s pairing a business with the perfect interior solution that is one of our favourite things to do.
With this pairing process in mind, we wanted to ‘pull back the curtain’ and take you through our ‘pairing’ process - the logic is actually akin to guidelines for food and wine pairing (that we’ve been well and truly putting into practice during August’s Wellington on a Plate). And if we do say so ourselves, the results are just as captivating and delicious.
Match flavour intensity and character...
When we scope out a new business space we attempt to match ‘design flavour’ intensity and character. This isn’t always an entirely straight forward match. The best outcomes in fact are achieved when we play with opposite ends of the design spectrum. Like bringing the weight and depth of a piece (either with colour or density) to the light and airiness of a space. While the intensity is the same, they operate at opposite ends of the spectrum. This type of pairing has the harmonious effect of creating interest and balance. We’ve played around with this pairing many times by matching some of our bespoke designs, and menu boards in weighty hues (such as an American Walnut menu board in 1200 x 600), with bright white airy spaces. We’ve used this approach with our recent fit out of Coffee Supreme in Midland Park, Wellington.
Serve a wine at least as sweet as the food being served. …
In an interior design context this means there needs to be a clear design link between the aesthetic and functionality of the product, and the space it will sit within. But for us it also goes deeper than that. One of the wonderful things about doing the work we do is meeting local businesses and hearing about what they stand for. It’s inspiring and invigorating for us to work in a community brimming with entrepreneurial spirit. Recently we had the pleasure of fitting out Bicycle Junction, Wellington. Business owner Dan needed some careful space planning and interior design to fit a cafe, bicycle store annnnddd repair store (phew). We loved the quality and quirkiness of the business and space he had created. The cafe menu needed to be unique and we achieved this with a Proffer custom product. A custom rail menu with timber rails and slide in lettering (watch this space if you like the sound of this…). Flexible retail shelving was achieved with a custom pegboard in two sizes, large peg holes for shelves and cabinets and smaller holes for hanging accessories. It was a sweet, sweet pairing.
Spicy foods need spicy wine. …
Just as spicy food needs a spicy wine, exciting busy fun spaces need pops of colour and zing, enough to reach over the noise of an already exuberant space. That’s when we’d suggest one of our painted menu boards - they can really bring a hum to a space. At Staten Eatery, Wellington we achieved this with a custom board painted in their choice of red. Our colourful menu holders, also bring a great colour pop - they’re hard wearing and can be customised to your brand with laser engraving.
Reach out to us if you would like to create your own bespoke pairing: info@proffer.co.nz