Fallon opens Velvet Fox restaurant with help from Penny Fathers

Bored by the prospect of Christmas client entertainment done the normal way, ad group Fallon hooked up with event design consultancy Penny Fathers to create restaurant space The Velvet Fox, for client entertainment-come-commercial extravaganza.  

The Velvet Fox
The Velvet Fox

Design Week had The Velvet Fox down as some kind of Georgian master criminal, in the same vein as The Scarlet Pimpernel, when we first heard the name.

The Velvet Fox
The Velvet Fox

The audacious aesthetic and the central London venue is probably closer to ‘1920s cocktail bar, private members club and forgotten hotel,’ says a Penny Fathers creative director, who wishes to remain anonymous, adding ‘I work for another consultancy’ although his anonymity just adds to any cloak and dagger mystique surrounding the event.

Our Penny Father tells us the venue entrance has been created as a ‘decompression zone.’ This is ‘to set people up in a different world, with a hotel reception facade which looks real,’ he adds.

The Velvet Fox
The Velvet Fox

As a branded space the Velvet Fox identity abounds and there are a series of commissioned graphics drawn by illustrator Ben Pearce of 1920s jazz and swing posters and playing card designs. 

The Velvet Fox
The Velvet Fox

Interior designer Rose Murray was commissioned by the Penny Fathers ‘to soften the space’ and was given a pink gold and black colour palette, which she appropriated to crafted lighting features, a found chaise long, and table and chair period pieces, says the Penny Father. 

The Velvet Fox
The Velvet Fox

Architectural interventions, like the bar and stage were all designed and built by Penny Fathers.

Penny Fathers were brought in by Fallon after the consultancy saw their barn theme at Hay-on-Wye  festival. They’re also the team behind the design of London’s successful Blitz Party night.  

The Velvet Fox
The Velvet Fox

If The Velvet Fox works, and if the problem of vacant shops and dereliction proliferate, maybe next Christmas other consultancies will resolve to open The Denim Shrew, The PVC Weasel, and The Brushed Cotton Badger. We want a whole street of them.

The Velvet Fox
The Velvet Fox

The Velvet Fox space is on 14-18 Great Titchfield Street, runs from 6-16 December and includes cabaret entertainment. For bookings go to http://www.fallon.co.uk/2011/11/the-velvet-fox/

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