behind the design | 8 years on.
this past november we marked 8 years of smokestak at sclater st, shoreditch. we took the anniversary to indulge in a brief walk down memory lane.
smokestak began its life in 2013 at dalston yard. we threw everything we had at it - most of our days and all of our weekends. the aim has always been the same: bring the best smoked meats to london.
after 3 years, we were able to take the leap to a brick-and-mortar site in shoreditch. we landed a lease on 35 sclater street, and finally had the opportunity to create our own world.
we wanted the restaurant to feel uniquely ours. months of canvassing led us to box 9 design and lou davies, in particular. her portfolio encompassed some of the most compellling and formative industrial designs at the time; Pizza East in the Tea Building; Soho House Berlin and the original Ozone Coffee, to name a few. Finding the designer was only half the battle. Getting ahold of her proved the trickier bit. When Lou ghosted our first few emails and phone calls, we knew she would be worth the chase. Low and behold...
by the time we were ready to do bricks and mortar, the ‘industrial age’ had come and almost gone, Lou was adamant to stray away from this. Instead, her vision was a raw, burnished reimagining of the inside of a smoker. a chance to literally step into and eat from the belly of the beast.
smokestak began to take shape. custom tables in gnarly wood were carved. metallic details and rough stone finishes were applied to the walls. statement lighting and leather finishes. all complementing the star of our new home - a custom-built parilla grill and wood smoker, center stage.
magic started to come together when the first fires were lit. the scent of smoke mingled with the low lights and charcoal design finishes literally evoked the machine around which the menu is designed. a custom playlist of our favourite tracks set the tone. it felt like home. lou had created something wholly our own - and 8 years on, it still feels as unique as it did on day one.
since SMOKESTAK, box 9 has remained a close creative partner + collaborated on all of david’s restaurants. the care + vision of the first one has come through every time. and if the endurance of sclater st. is anything to go by, we’re still in good hands.