Feeling blue: five azure interiors to brighten up your January

With its cold weather and distinct absence of festivity, January often gets a bad rep as the dreariest month in the calendar. Nothing quite demonstrates this feeling better than Blue Monday, which took place last week on the 15^th of January. So, whether you believe the third Monday of the month to be the ‘most depressing day of the year’ or not, we took this opportunity to handpick some of our favourite hospitality projects with a blue palette to inject some colour back into your week.

THDP celebrates the Venetian landscape at Voco Venice Mestre – The Quid

Helmed by THDP, this hotel redesign made use of natural elements and forms derived from the stunning coast and countryside of Venice. Guests of Voco’s The Quid can delight in features like lacquered wall panelling in a deep-sea blue, placed in pleasant contrast to brass signage and statement gold lighting to evoke Italy’s sun-drenched natural landscape.

These blue hues continue throughout the hotel’s internal courtyard and bar, in the form of sleek tiled pillars and accent bar stools that invite guests to stay and share a drink with fellow residents. As for The Quid’s chic communal areas, the colour palette is further inspired by Veneto’s foliage and earthy elements, carefully marrying rich green tones with lighter upholstery and soft tan leathers.

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Natalia Miyar entices London’s creative crowd with The Twenty Two

The vision of former Blakes owner Navid Mirtorabi and his business partner Jamie Reuben, The Twenty Two tapped Natalia Miyar to redesign the boutique hotel and members’ club. Once an imposing manor on Grosvenor Square, the listed Edwardian building is still rich with playful architectural flourishes and is now home to 31 guestrooms stacked atop a destination restaurant and a private club.

Said guestrooms are unashamedly extrovert, with some featuring colourful, ultra-ornate patterns that extend up walls and across ceilings – repeated on sofas and cushions in Pierre Frey fabrics for the ultimate aesthetic wallop. Showcasing 19^th century and Napoleonic influences throughout, materials were an essential part of combining classic French décor with a modern Mayfair twist. For instance, the appealingly polite blue seen on guestroom walls is echoed by powder blue panelling in the restaurant, allowing the private and public to speak to one other in one well-defined language.

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Fabled Studio writes a theatrical next chapter for Manzi’s of Soho

Revived as part of The Wolseley Hospitality Group, with conversation-starting interiors by London’s Fabled Studio, Manzi’s has returned as one of Soho’s largest dining destinations, determined to make its presence felt in both scale and spectacle. After shuttering just shy of its 80th birthday in 2006, the newly renovated restaurant is spread across two floors in a vast site off Bateman Street.

With few images of the original interiors remaining, Fabled used a book titled ‘Memories of Manzi’s’ as their creative springboard. Offering glamour and decadence, as well as not taking itself too seriously, the new Manzi’s is awash with theatrical sea-blue décor, ranging from Mark Sands’ vivid mural of stormy waves to a sculptural Poseidon and life-size mermaids that prop up the ornate bar.

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TIPICO welcomes colourful conversations with a vibrant palette and repurposed materials

Toronto-based designers Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster created TIPICO with Buffalo’s creative community in mind. With its walls and bar area painted a monochromatic sky blue, the whimsical tone of the café continues with an over-scaled stairwell, topped with a mirror. In their own words, the design duo felt this installation would create an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ vibe while also playing on the domestic history of the space.

Occupying the main level of a century-old house, Jamrozik and Kempster have reclaimed the original charm of the space after years of generic modifications. As well as its vibrant blue fixtures, TIPICO also champions circularity and innovation, with reclaimed tables and bespoke linear lights made from construction-site string lights and aluminium tube stock.

Transforming the tavern of a Michelin-star restaurant with Visual Display

Also utilising a striking, monochromatic colour scheme, Visual Display designed the aptly named Blue Lounge to be a welcome addition to popular culinary haunt, Agli Amici 1887. Overlooking the town square in Udine, Italy, the lounge acts as both an entrance to the restaurant and a spot to enjoy an aperitif, providing guests with a seamless gastronomic experience.

The dramatic blue interiors are interrupted only by a large orange sphere – a simple, contemporary light fixture that infuses the lounge with a warm, inviting atmosphere. Making the space feel even more intimate, the ceiling is fitted with sound-absorbing panels, which also serve to obscure the light points dotted strategically throughout.