David Collins’ music ‘box’ for Kabaret’s Prophecy

London’s acclaimed Kabaret club relaunches this week as Kabaret’s Prophecy, with cutting-edge, musically driven interiors designed by David Collins.

The venue, his first club commission, features three interactive walls entirely covered with Mipix modular LED blocks. According to Collins, these are both a response to space constraints and a reflection of his interest in music.

‘Kabaret harks back to a 1950s, beatnik bar. Faced with that, plus the fact I couldn’t make the space any bigger, I wanted to give it a third dimension,’ he explains. ‘In a way it’s anti-design, because it’s a blank box. The ambience comes from the music.’

The walls, whose light patterns mimic the intensity of the music and the time of day, create an added ‘tension’ in the space. ‘The technology used in super clubs is quite remote. Here, you’re right within the box,’ says Collins.

Kabaret’s Prophecy also boasts poured resin floors, inspired by spilled paint, glass panels illustrated by artist Natasha Law, Verner Panton globe lamps and customised, mismatched banquettes, covered with grey, punched leather.

‘We’ll change the illustrations and the decor on an ongoing basis… A club has to evolve,’ says Collins.

The LED walls, created and controlled on most club nights by multimedia graphics group United Visual Artists, are also expected to adapt over time.

‘We have live text input, so we’ll be able to take stuff, like news feeds, off the Web,’ says consultancy creative director Matt Clark.

Kabaret’s Prophecy, aimed at the top end of the market, will offer ‘luxury comfort food’ such as black cod fish fingers and a drinks menu developed by Hakkasan’s Gorgeous Group.

Graphics are by cartoonist Jamie Hewlett.