The Plant and Stiff & Trevillion work on Jamie’s Italian

The Plant is working with architect Stiff & Trevillion to create a new branch of Jamie’s Italian restaurant in Portsmouth.

As brand guardian for the chef Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Italian chain, The Plant has worked with Stiff & Trevillion on a number of outlets over the past four years.

For the Portsmouth site, The Plant is designing the exterior shopfront, signage and internal graphics, while Stiff & Trevillion is responsible for interior design.

The Portsmouth branch has a shipbuilding theme in reference to its history as a naval town. According to Matt Utber, owner of The Plant, ’It’s about utilitarian beauty. Our aim was to suggest the weathering of the shipping containers. The graphics reflect water levels, ships’ markings and the big graphics used for shipping companies. It’s about the language of the ocean.’

He adds, ’The briefs [for Jamie’s Italian outlets] are always really open, but we make them site-specific and sympathetic to the environment. Portsmouth has such a rich naval and shipping history that it was really appropriate. We were very careful not to make it themey it’s quite abstract and subtle.’

The interiors feature old shipbuilding pulleys and riveted metal plates, as well as a large outdoor seating area with an iroko hardwood timber pergola.

The ceilings feature patterns based on the Dazzle paintings used as camouflage for ships in World War I.

Justin Hardy, Jamie Oliver restaurants group project development manager, says, ’We started off with quite a blank canvas, but I wanted to turn it into a very industrial, shipbuilding-influenced site. Stiff & Trevillion added a bit more of a refined, finessed look influenced by sunseeker boats.’

Jamie’s Italian Portsmouth opens at the end of the month.