The inherent flexible and lightweight qualities of real stone veneer are making BendyStone® a popular choice for designers and other specifiers in the hospitality sector. However, during a recent bar renovation project, North West designers Brereton Pinnington found that BendyStone has uplifting properties too.
Brereton Pinnington wanted their design elements to do the shouting in the ground floor cocktail bar of the Townhouse, Oswestry – a stunning renovation of a Georgian property into an uber-stylish restaurant and functions rooms, under the charge of Michelin-starred chef Michael Caines MBE.
Discussing their choice of materials, Clair Brereton of Brereton Pinnington said, “The counter in the cocktail bar is very long and the focal point of a room that had no natural light. We therefore need something bold to cover the bar front – something that would add light and do all the talking. This meant choosing a strong, vibrant, statement colour and Autumn White BendyStone, real stone veneer met the brief perfectly.”
The stylish bar at Townhouse with BendyStone in Autumn White
Like all twelve of the colours in the BendyStone range, Autumn White with its grey hues, has inherent 3 dimensional accentuations and the fact that no two panels are the same, provides unique character and personality to the stone.
The BendyStone cladding complements the strong architectural features of the room such as the high ceilings, and pairs well with the over-sized sofas, quirky distressed furniture and rabbit chairs, which give the space an Alice in Wonderland feel.
Installation
It took 20 sheets of BendyStone to cover the bar front and these were laid vertically to soften the length of the bar. The sheets – lightweight and therefore easy to carry around site – were applied using Natural Stone Veneer’s recommended solvent-free adhesive. The sheets measure 1220mm x 610mm and are very easy to work with, and flexible enough to deal with the ‘zig zag’ shape of the bar counter.
Flexibility
During the manufacturing process, the high degree of adhesion accomplished between the stone and the glass fibre reinforced polyester (GRP) produces a strong bond and results in a stable, yet highly flexible material. This made the bending of the stone around the front corner of the bar easy, but much more complex shaping around tight radiuses can be achieved on columns and curved walls for instance.
BendyStone is a popular material choice for Brereton Pinnington because it appeals to their core client base that is looking for something different. Clair admits, “No one has ever seen anything like BendyStone before so when we show it to clients there is always bit of a wow factor about it.”