Beautiful Bars is a stunning photographic journey through the world’s most beautifully designed cocktail bars, told through interviews with the designers who created them. From New York to Buenos Aires, and whether classic or exotic, all are united by incredible interiors, seminal design and cultural impact, captured through beautiful large-format photography.
Interviewees include the CEO and design director of David Collins Studio, who created legendary venues such as The Connaught – widely considered the world’s best bar – and Monte Carlo’s Café de Paris. With evocative names like Italy’s Hotel Splendido and the French Riviera’s Casino Royale Palm, to Korea’s award-winning Zest Seoul and Mexico’s immersive Tlecan, Beautiful Bars is the definitive, authoritative visual bible for all those interested in era-defining design, timeless photography – and the high life.
The introduction to Beautiful Bars is written by the design journalist Peter Martin. Threaded with insights from hours of interviews with famous bar designers and legendary mixologists, it examines the history of the cocktail bar, the cultural impact of cocktails from the Jazz Age to the 1990s revival, and the vivid, globally exploding bar scene of today. Throughout the book, lavish photography is accompanied by insights and commentary on each bar.
