Mayfair club Morton’s opens the doors on new interiors and website

Morton’s, a private members’ club in London’s Mayfair, is poised to unveil new interiors designed by Virgile & Stone and a new website created by The Web Well.

Morton’s appointed Virgile &; Stone in summer 2008, on the strength of the consultancy’s previous work for the club’s owner Marlon Abela Restaurant Corporation. Virgile & Stone revamped the Morton’s stablemate The Greenhouse last year.

Virgile & Stone’s first task was to investigate the positioning of Morton’s in relation to other west London private clubs. The consultancy claims that it found a gap in the market for a younger, more fashionable club.

‘We wanted to move away from the stuffy traditional gentlemen’s clubs and make it more contemporary and eclectic,’ says Virgile & Stone co-managing director Carlos Virgile. Artworks by Julian Opie and Howard Hodgkin will decorate the walls, while a digital installation by United Visual Artists will adorn the ‘night bar’ in the basement.

In the ground-floor bar, Virgile & Stone has used an aubergine colour palette and exposed some brickwork, which will be cladded with glass and illuminated. The first-floor restaurant will feature a grey and green colour palette.

Morton’s appointed The Web Well in October after approaching the group directly on the strength of its credentials. Morton’s briefed the group to ‘create a good platform to show the branding and interior of the club’, says The Web Well design director Piers Milburn.

The site will include public areas featuring photography of the club’s new interiors, as well as private areas with message boards for members to use, and an online reservation facility. The club hopes to add a social networking element to the website at a later date.

Edge Design created branding for the club in October, after being appointed on the strength of its past relationship with Marlon Abela Restaurant Corporation in March. ‘The brief was to create a new, exciting brand to attract a younger clientele,’ says Edge Design senior designer Tom West.

The new interior will be unveiled at the end of this month, and the website is due to launch in January.