Interior Architecture and Design.
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Co-founders and Directors
John Macaulay & Mike Sinclair.

Mark and Sara Colley,
Owner & Operator
The Curlew Restaurant

'We first met Macaulay Sinclair at The Restaurant Show 2008. Over the last year, we have watched them transform a coaching inn that was falling apart into a stunning new restaurant turning heads across the county. During The Curlew build and beyond, Macaulay Sinclair displayed incredibly deep and diverse knowledge of the design and build process. Put simply, without their contribution, The Curlew would not be the charming and engaging modern British bistro we are proud to call our own.'

Mark Cribb,
Owner & Operator
Urban Reef

'In Macaulay Sinclair, I have been fortunate to work with a company who do more than just design. Throughout the build, Macaulay Sinclair repeatedly showed a deep understanding of every element of our business. The result is a product that not only looks spectacular but one that has every chance of being a resounding commercial success.'

Steve Spooner,
Operations Manager
Pitcher & Piano

'Macaulay Sinclair have delivered a project on time, on budget and one in which all of the operational issues have been resolved with both tenacity and imagination. Thanks to Macaulay Sinclair I think, in Nottingham, we now have one of the most exciting sites in the Pitcher & Piano portfolio and one of which the city can be rightly proud.'

At Urban Reef, we branded and blended a destination restaurant, decked external terrace, bar, café and deli outlet to deliver a cohesive, vibrant social hub at the home of Europe's first artificial surf reef.

We took Fifties' references and colours, materials and laminates and mixed them with punchy visual cues from the British seaside.

Owner Mark Cribb commented: "Since opening the doors, business has been brisk; design has been key in helping us capitalise on such an opportunity, whilst ensuring a fantastic customer experience."

That's the way to do it.

This timber-framed 17th Century former Coach Inn was formerly three co-joined buildings which we opened out into once coherent space - The Curlew needed room to spread its wings.

Despite the recession, The Curlew has had an incredibly successful first six months, emerging as one of the county's most-talked about new places to eat.

We went for soulful, understated design, rural chic, city and country brushing shoulders, formal food, informal dining.

Style meets stile.

Our first Bluu job was in Nottingham in 2001, just a stone's throw from our offices.

In the subsequent years, we've designed four sites that balanced brand building with locations sympathetic to their surroundings, their heritage, their trading conditions.

Birmingham's basement was inspired by an underground New York cabaret bar; in London Moorgate's former bank we deposited pristine, open, counter-style kitchens; Manchester's market quarter prompted brisk trade; Hoxton, a former jazz club, oozes intimacy.

We put a lot of thought into every site. Deep bluu, see?

In the viaduct arches of Manchester's Deansgate Locks, amidst copper and brick we inserted striking, bespoke red glass chandeliers delicately constructed from 3,000 hand-made glass tubes. We installed a 'hovering' bottom-lit monolith bar and Victoriana backdrop paying homage to the building's railway heritage.

In Nottingham, we ensured the dramatic 300-year old former Unitarian Church became a place to drink and eat by adding food cues. Elsewhere, we lit the building's dramatic stained-glass windows, removed the central drum to create a more cohesive atmosphere and added deep red banquette seating and suspended light fittings throughout.

Nottingham's stylish pan-Asian restaurant, opened to national fanfare.

Part restaurant, part bar, part club, the fusion extended from the plate to the offering - what remained holistic was the design.

The Independent noted: "Sleekly detailed and glamorous. The large bar is moodily lit, low-seated and impressively detailed, from one exquisitely mosaic-tiled wall to another. It's just a few steps up to the dining room, which continues the moody, clubby feel. Colourful silk bolsters line the expansive booth-like seats like horizontal geisha girls."

Part-financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund and created in partnership with English Heritage, we revealed Cast's modernist Grade II* listed shell.

We contrasted that shell with contemporary materials placing the bar and restaurant, café, delicatessen and recital/assembly space of Nottingham's playhouse centre stage.

We wanted Cast to be modern, and relevant - to perform at all times of the day, not just pre-and post-theatre

We've got a new job we can't wait to sink our teeth into.

Hawksmoor describe themselves as 'A British Steakhouse' (which is sort of like calling Rolls Royce 'A British Car Manufacturer').

Hawksmoor serve the very best Longhorn cattle dry aged for at least 35 days, lamb from Swaledale that graze on wild heather moorland and big happy Tamworth pigs.

Branding is the big picture, the wrapping. It encircles and encases your business 'package'. Branding ties together every one of your business' elements and communicates them to your target audience. As an holistic design agency, we work hard to understand those elements and deliver a clear, compelling message.

Understated style, quality, informality, The Curlew on the East Sussex / Kent border welcomes to its nest a part of the country's more affluent demographic. The Curlew's grown-up offering needed seamless messaging. We directed graphic design to iconographise the rare British bird - to develop an elegant, fluid and assured image and materials to reflect The Curlew's dining, service, location and interior.

Young, trendy, an exciting place to be and eat with three different paced offerings, branding had to be impactful, vibrant and diverse while satisfying Geishas' obvious sensuality, heritage and opulence. Geisha's brand umbrella covered sumptuous, tactile fabrics in the restaurant, delicate plum blossom in the bar and restrooms and a vibrant mosaic of leaping carp in the club.

Sourcing excellent produce from around the world, Flores, Portuguese for flowers, was designed to appeal to a feminine, mid to upper market demographic. Visually, we developed a bouquet of ingredients; the 'flowers' include mussels, green beans, mushrooms and fish. In the spirit of sharing, pre-launch, we asked customers to tell us their perfect dinner guests, post-launch created at-table conversation pieces.

Urban Reef was created to respond to and take cues from its locale (beachfront) its customer base (an edgy surfer community who demanded green credentials and ingredients) and its building heritage (post-war). The offering (and subsequently the branding) had to be snappy and upbeat while familiar and authentic. Bar, deli, restaurant and café offerings tied together in one brand.

We have been appointed to take over design duties for Inamo, the pan-Asian, interactive restaurant that continues to have Londoners tapping their fingers in excitement. At Inamo, food is ordered interactively from menus projected onto diner's tables. Later this year, we will be opening their second site; same eye-popping technology, new eye-popping environment.

On Tuesday June 22nd June, Urban Reef, the bar/deli/restaurant/café we designed at Boscombe Bay, home of Europe's first artificial surf reef, sailed away with top honours at The Restaurant and Bar Design Awards in the category 'Restaurant, Bar or Club in Another Space'. In its second year, The Restaurant and Bar Design Awards is totally independent and the only awards to recognise, exclusively, restaurant and bar design excellence.

The proposition of Hawksmoor on Commercial Street, London is wonderfully, incredibly rare: The very best British meat simply cooked on a real charcoal grill. The herds continue to flock to their original home, which we've recently updated. We're currently designing their second site. It's opening in August - make a date in your dairy.