Bespoke lighting manufacturer Dernier & Hamlyn was commissioned by David Collins Studio to create lighting for Nobu London Portman Square.

For David Collins Studio at Nobu, Dernier & Hamlyn saw their team’s extensive experience and wide-ranging artisan skills brought to bear in a variety of ways to produce more than 100 individual pieces crafted from brass and hand finished in bronze.

“In common with all of our work, this project required extremely high-quality workmanship and attention to detail,” says Lyn Newcombe, Dernier & Hamlyn’s Head of Projects. “The lighting our team produced for Nobu Hotel London Portman Square is even more exquisite than we hoped for and we have no doubt that the hotel’s guests and diners will have their experience enhanced by the mood it helps to create.”

The lobby ceiling features twelve colonnade wall lights that were formed from brass sheets cut by hand – all pieces are individually silver soldered and finished in a unique bronze shade created by the David Collins team. Light is softly dissipated through the shades which were created by sandwiching luxury Spanish parchment between glass panels.

In the restaurant’s lobby lounge, a pendant some 1600mm square and four square luminaires that sit on top of the cabinets holding wines and spirits which feature hand crafted brass frames fitted with glass panels on which bespoke parchment shades are fitted.

Four bronze pendants finished in antique brass some 1300mm in length are suspended above the sushi bar, each hand-cut, shaped and welded then fitted with bespoke handmade seeded glass shades.

Meanwhile, for the main restaurant twelve ceiling lights feature reeded glass tubular shades and hand formed brass end caps fixed using one metre-long handcrafted brass rods fitted with solid brass spheres.

Dernier & Hamlyn also engineered an 80m brass track system to accommodate hand folded white paper shades created by Danish bespoke shade maker Le Klint.

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Nicola Bianchi, Senior Designer at David Collins Studio, discusses the studio’s lighting concepts for Nobu Hotel Portman Square.

Which spaces did you specify bespoke lighting for?

Nobu Hotel’s lighting is 100% bespoke, either custom designed pieces or unique one-off commissions by artists. This allows us to use every element of design to give the project its unique sense of identity.

What were you looking to convey with the lighting at Nobu? How was this achieved?

As well as conveying Nobu’s strong brand identity and referencing Japanese principles of design, the lighting had to deliver throughout the day. Unlike a restaurant that may only be open in the evening, we needed to ensure the hotel felt like a completely different space for a breakfast guest, as well as a dinner, drinks and dancing guest. The lighting needed to be able to change the scene and highlight different tones and materials throughout the day.

What role does the lighting play in the overall concept?

Hand blown glass, layered with Japanese-inspired parchment papers and Carlo Scarpa-inspired details were brought together through Japanese uniformity and repetition. We placed 74 pendants, repeated around the entirety of the restaurant, with pleated floor lamps at almost every column in the atrium to create impact. Whilst wall lights mix classic Japanese clasp details inspired from temple design, and Raku glazed tiles, with an elongated contemporary lamp layered with three different types of glass to bring luxury and sparkle.

Why did you specify Dernier & Hamlyn?

Over the Studio’s 35-year history, custom lighting has been an integral part of our work across private residential, retail and hospitality sectors. We have collaborated with Dernier & Hamlyn on numerous projects including, most recently, Harrods Mens Superbrands; we know they can deliver the uncompromising quality that we expect, so they were a natural choice for Nobu Hotel, Portman Square.