Footprint Wine Tap

Reflective of Footprint Wine Tap’s sustainable values, our goal at the start of this project was to utilize as much as possible of what the former tenant, a beer garden, left behind. The beautiful copper-clad back-of-house area and the bar taps were welcome components we wanted to highlight. The challenge was how to integrate a dose of the Old World aesthetics that are often hallmarks of traditional wine cellars.

Between the very modern feel of the copper cladding and the all-concrete-and-storefront-window typical commercial space, the room felt impersonal. To begin to personalize and humanize the space, we added high-contrast elm wood, a reclaimed banquette, and pops of green that will dovetail with the copper as it ages into its own green patina. Among the collection of new furniture for the space, we included a few copper pieces to help the new and existing blend together.

Another challenge was the odd shape of the existing space, featuring multiple angles coming together in not-entirely-intuitive ways. To solve this, we created two custom angled tables — one low, and one bar height — to reorient the space to be parallel the sidewalk, and create a comfortable proportion of space around the bar.

Footprint Wine Tap’s proprietor was very hands-on with painting and a lot of decorative elements that bring the space together — including the reclaimed piano — and he even headlined the hand-cutting and installation of the reclaimed wine bottles that clad the face of the bar, which will fill out as more bottles are salvaged.