Nulty is a leading-edge lighting design consultancy working with some of the world’s foremost architects and interior designers.
Nulty has completed an intricate lighting scheme for Vintry & Mercer, a new boutique hotel located in the City of London. Commissioned by Dexter Moren Associates, the award-winning architecture and interiors team behind Vintry & Mercer’s sister hotel The Ampersand, Nulty was briefed to create an immersive lighting experience incorporating subtle references to the area’s rich history of wine and textile guilds.
An ornate decorative light sculpture greets guests on arrival and immediately brings a sense of intrigue to the hotel’s reception area. The specially commissioned botanically-inspired chandelier has been suspended horizontally along the lobby and sweeps dramatically throughout a central spiral staircase. The elaborate installation flows theatrically throughout the space and expertly steers guests from one area to another.
Elsewhere in the hotel Nulty has designed original lighting schemes that balance materiality with functionality. The hotel’s roof terrace takes its cue from a traditional countryside orangery and features glazed roof views of St Paul’s Cathedral. Nulty’s challenge was to source decorative fixtures that could work with the fabric of the building and allow the team to carefully navigate the traditional beam details in the ceiling. A mix of discreet integrated spots and ornate pendants have been used to illuminate the bar area, which is further complemented by wall-mounted arm fittings offering low-level lighting. The final result is testament to Nulty’s ability to use light as a form of art, with every individual lighting element working to create a space underpinned by artisan touches and considered use of materials.
The hotel’s speakeasy bar has a distinct art-deco design sensibility, with vintage wall and ceiling-mounted light fittings chosen to complement the room’s decorative ceiling mouldings and trims. Carefully positioned low-level lighting picks up the layers of detail around the room and creates a sense of intimacy.
Accentuating the stylistic details of the library was crucial. Here, a large map alluding to London’s merchant trading heritage covers the ceiling. Nulty used coffer lighting to highlight the map’s details and interspersed task lighting throughout to provide task lighting for meetings.
The hotel’s ground floor restaurant has to service different sittings across the day, so Nulty sourced an adjustable lighting system that alternates between cool light for breakfast and a warmer glow for dinner. Nulty also unlocked the hidden potential of this space by building additional layers of illumination behind the room’s classic English shutters to create the illusion of daylight filtering into the space.
In the hotel’s bedrooms and bathrooms, the interplay between mood and task lighting delivers the required level of character and functionality. The scheme features a bespoke coffer treatment that floods light across the ceiling, in addition to decorative fixtures that complement the materiality of the room’s wallpaper and textiles.
Ellie Coombes, Managing Director at Nulty comments; “With Vintry & Mercer we have demonstrated how a great lighting scheme should impress first through ambiance, then slowly reveal itself through subtle design elements and strategic focal points. We worked collaboratively with the team at Dexter Moren Associates, dovetailing their meticulous approach to visual storytelling to tease out interesting design references that are wholly British in their origin. The hotel is a beautifully presented space that takes you on an evocative journey from the moment you enter the building. An experience that is both rich in detail and unique in its sense of place.”
