Darleys Derbyshire: Contemporary Restaurant Design at it’s Best

It is always a pleasure to be involved with projects who seamlessly combine an updated contemporary design whilst being true to the history of the building and it’s surroundings. Darleys in Derbyshire is an example of a restaurant that has done this to perfection. 

“Sat alongside the River Derwent, creating a timeless and contemporary nod to the classic bistro.”

Faber Design

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Timeless Contemporary Design

Darleys is located within a collection of converted cotton mills dating from the 18th Century. Serving classic British food throughout the day and night, the redesign of Darleys needed to bring together a diverse range of customers, old and new, creating a timeless and contemporary nod to the classic bistro.

The original restaurant had low ceilings throughout. Being a smaller venue, this was not ideal. Despite it’s attractive location, Faber felt that more could be made of it. A small and poorly designed bar further added to what felt dated and inadequate.

Loyal Customer Base

Despite this, the restaurant had a lot of loyal customers who needed to come on board for the new Darleys; therefore, the design had to balance the old with the new.

Original Timber A-Frames

You enter the restaurant into the newly created bar area; here, the ceiling has been lifted to expose the original timber A-frames, creating a much needed sense of space. This enables the dining room, defined by being one step up from the bar, to be intimate and have perfect views of the river. Clear definition between bar area and dining creates two distinct experiences, allowing the bar to be used throughout the day in a more informal style.

Custom Bar Top Details

To stay with the theme of a contemporary classic, Faber Design approached Versital to help create a more modern and practical bar area. They wanted to lift the areas with beautiful details. Faber and Versital worked together to create a custom edge detail for the bar top that fulfilled the brief.

The bar top needed a traditional feel, with a bit of detail to blend with the surroundings. The beautiful custom drop detail sweeps round the bar seamlessly with no joins or messy details.

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Being a cast cultured marble, Versital is ideal for projects like this when a design detail is needed. Traditional marble would require separate pieces putting together around the curve and fixing together. This is where Versital comes into it’s own – we couldn’t be happier with the outcome and have even added it to the range dubbing it the ‘Darley drop’.

Gemma Stockberger – Versital

Easy to Maintain

Not only does Darleys benefit from the beautiful aesthetics of Versital marble, it of course comes with all the benefits you’d expect from our marbles. Versital is extremely hygienic offering the anti-bacterial protection of SteriTouch, as well as being waterproof and easy to clean.

Working in Partnership with Designers

As well as manufacturing to design specification we are also on hand to offer advice to designers to help create the vision they have whilst being a practical real-world solution. We often have designers who approach us with a brief and initial design who may need advice making it work in practice.
We were able to offer our expertise in creating a beautiful custom drop edge detail. It really helps to work alongside experienced designers like Faber.
Our aim is to take the stress away from the designer and end client and work alongside other trades to get a good end result.
As well as being a beautiful marble finish it offers the benefits of being extremely hygienic, easy to clean and non-porous so will not stain

Gemma Stockberger, Director