A Bar Design Was Created from Recycled Materials Collected Around the City

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.

What was the client’s brief? 

The Art of Extreme Sustainability.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Questions answered by Adam Hunt, Founder, Adam Hunt Ideas.