26th April 2023 | IN HOSPITALITY DESIGN | BY SBID ShareTweetPinterestLinkedIn This week’s instalment of the Project of the Week series features a unique bar design by 2022 SBID Awards Finalist, Adam Hunt Ideas and Gemma Lin. At the start of the Covid Pandemic, the Australian Government sealed its borders shut – even to Australian Citizens – for more than 2 years. The Australian/Taiwanese Artists & Interior Designers Adam Hunt & Gemma Lin were visiting family in Taiwan when they became two of the tens of thousands of Australians unable to return home. With their Sydney Bar/Restaurant locked down for nearly 8 months & no prospect of going back, they decided to keep themselves busy by creating a unique venue based on their Interior Design Philosophy: that the future is best served by reimagining the past. They call it “The Art of Extreme Sustainability”. The Plan was to have no Plans. Once the location was secured – a 150 year old derelict building – a 3 month journey began to collect recycled building materials from the beaches, the rocky coast, abandoned dwellings & fishing villages around the ancient Port City of Keelung. They harvested wood from old fishing boats, rope & plastic floats from fishing nets, rusty old anchors, driftwood, buoys & abandoned broken furniture from the streets. The Interior Design evolved from whatever they found – all furniture, light features, vanity units, decor & art was recycled, up-cycled, repaired or created from scratch. It sure beat doing nothing. SBID Awards Category: Club & Bar Design Practice: Adam Hunt Ideas and Gemma Lin Project: Bad Mama Keelung Location: Keelung, Taiwan There’s nothing like the colour & texture of old wood to turn a vanity unit into a work of art. We inlaid the bar top with old curved wood found in bushes nearby the boat itself. What was the client’s brief? The Art of Extreme Sustainability. Salvaging this incredibly heavy wooden cable reel was almost as large an undertaking as the fishing boat for the bar. It took half a day just to cut them in two with a hand hacksaw. Then it took 3 big boofy blokes an hour to monster them up the cliff & into a truck. Each top was so heavy it took two table bases joined together to support the weight. I nearly gave up on this project several times over the months - but eventually I cut away the rotten wood, replaced it with more old wood, and now we have two enormous tables that can sit 12 people each. What inspired the design of the project? The ancient Port City of Keelung on the wild North Coast of Taiwan has been inhabited by The Ketagalan Tribe of Aborigines (who share DNA with the Samoans) for over 6,000 years. And they’re still here – despite having been invaded, occupied & pillaged over the centuries – starting in 1544 by The Portuguese, followed by The Spanish, Dutch, French, The Qing Dynasty Chinese, and then the Japanese Colonial Era from 1895 until the end of WW2. The Japanese began the historic Kànzǎidǐng Night Street Fish Market in Keelung over 120 years ago, and our location is right in the middle of its fully chaotic midnight to dawn hustle & bustle – sandwiched between the Red Light District and the 17th Century Temple to The Great Goddess Mazu – Patron Saint to Seafarers everywhere. So we decided to build our Bar out of an old Fishing Boat – to honour the Great Goddess Mazu, who was particularly Badass. According to Legend the Demons Qianliyan (“Thousand-Mile Eye”) and Shunfeng’er (“Wind-Following Ear”) both fell in love with her – so she conceded that she would marry the one who defeated her in combat. Being a supreme Martial Artist, Mazu easily dispatched them both & thus remained single. That’s Girl Power right there. Our portrait “Wall Of Bad Mamas” celebrates strong, fierce, independent Women – from a local Female Pirate, to Frida Kahlo, from the first Woman in Space, to Amy Winehouse – because let’s face it… well behaved women seldom make history. The wall around the bar in the shadow of Mazu’s Temple is covered with antique silver frames holding images of great women in history. What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project? Anyone can have a crazy idea like: “Let’s build our Bar out of an old Fishing Boat” – but you have to be truly mad to believe you can actually pull it off. The challenge was not only to find a Fishing Boat exactly the right size for the room, but also to somehow fit it up the incredibly narrow alleyway behind the enormous 17th Century Mazu Temple, that’s literally just 38 inches across from our front door. I could literally write an action adventure novel about that 2 day journey to get the boat… or… you could just watch this. A Twilight Zone of extraordinary abandoned buildings surrounds the Keelung Coast - including a dozen or so Futuro Houses. We tried to buy some for another bar project, but they’ve been abandoned to the wild ocean air since the 70’s & we couldn’t trace their ownership. We’ve heard that the Government intends to bulldoze them all soon - so we rescued what we could from them & built a Host Stand for the Bar. What was your team’s highlight of the project? We found God! Our ‘Rescue Deity’ was discovered sitting in an abandoned derelict Seaside Hotel. He seemed pretty happy to see us, so we built him a plinth out of old wood from a fishing boat, as well as his very own Bamboo forest & garden of ocean-tumbled rocks in a light well. Now anyone who visits Bad Mama can also find God – whenever they need to find the bathroom. Gemma made Japanese Ghost Dolls "Teru Teru Bozu" from beach harvested Fishing Net Floats - they're meant to scare the rain away - it rains a lot in Keelung! The beaches around the fishing villages are covered in ropes, wood, buoys & these blue fishing net floats - as well as hundreds of blue thongs (or “Flip Flops” if you’re American) So we made a light feature out of an old anchor & a school of “Fish”. Why did you enter this project into the SBID Awards? We wanted to see if a Husband & Wife Team – with zero education or Training in Interior Design – could mix it up with the big guys on the Global Awards Stage. We are Artists, Painters, Sculptors, Designers, Builders, Furniture Makers, Chefs & Cocktail Specialists. We have a passion for Sustainability & a fresh vision for the Future based on how we reimagine the Past. Cheers! Whether she’s holding a Knife in the kitchen, or a Paintbrush in the garden painting Bad Mamas - Gemma is a true Artist. Questions answered by Adam Hunt, Founder, Adam Hunt Ideas. View the project We hope you feel inspired by this week’s design! If you missed the last instalment of Project of the Week, featuring a luxurious hotel suite design by Jeffrey Beers International, click here to read it.