Shabby chic: Bar’s hi-lo look reflects hard times

Bar Económico is particularly noteworthy because its owner, Matthew Bax, previously had an establishment on the same site – Der Raum, a members-only club, where nitrogen-chilled cocktails were served to the choicest clientele. Bar Económico could not be a further from this concept. In its stead is a purposefully derelict interior, where the drinks are cheap and bought with tickets that can be purchased from the ‘shanty ticket booth’. Peanut shells cover the floors and hand-drawn signs make it look like it just opened.

Losing the pomp and circumstance, Bax’s latest establishment aims to find a new kind of authenticity – one that would appeal to our tribe of New Emerging Affluents. For more, see our design direction on the latest London Fashion Week autumn/winter 2014, where we spotted hi-lo references to favelas and slums.