London, 2007

Fortnum & Mason

David Collins Studio’s designs for Fortnum & Mason celebrated its 300th anniversary and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The Studio transformed key spaces, including The Fountain, The Parlour, The Wine Bar, and The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon, blending heritage with modern elegance. These designs are now integral to Fortnum’s identity, creating timeless, iconic spaces.

The main tea room is envisaged as a Georgian drawing room, incorporating period features such as gessoed panelling, and touches of the Fortnum & Mason trademark eau de nil colour, with basket weave, arched windows and floral motifs throughout.

Lewis Taylor, Design Director, David Collins Studio

Fortnums’ signature colour was introduced by the Studio rather than at the insistence of the client. When you think of Fortnums, you think of tea, which meant that the Tea Salon had to be the most quintessentially Fortnum & Mason-looking space in the building. We used eau de Nil carefully, though, rather than overpowering the space with it.

Lewis Taylor, Design Director

Known for its Georgian-style tea salon designed by David Collins Studio and a vast range of gourmet goods, the St. James's department store with the dressed-up windows and majestic clock (flaunting bells from the same foundry as Big Ben) has been a Piccadilly landmark since its inception in 1707.

Alia Akkam, Architectural Digest

Designed by the darling of the London dining scene David Collins (the visionary behind J Sheekey, The Berkeley’s Blue Bar and The Wolseley), it is part of a large overhaul to celebrate the store’s tricentenary.

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David Collins Studio played a pivotal role in Fortnum & Mason’s strategy to celebrate and commemorate the department store’s 300th anniversary, and as part of its wider £24 million refurbishment. Commissioned by Beverly Aspinall, Fortnum & Mason’s then managing director, the projects were a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to both harmonise design and heritage within the iconic Piccadilly store. The Studio was entrusted with designing four key areas: The Fountain, The Parlour, The Wine Bar, and The Gallery. A later instruction followed, introducing The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon to coincide with Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Each space was imbued with a distinct identity while remaining firmly anchored in Fortnum’s ethos. The Fountain, a beloved ground-floor institution, was restored to reflect its 21st-century purpose. With a palette starting with Fortnum’s signature eau de nil, married with pale pink and jade veined marble, antique mirror, and gilt cornicing details, bringing together elegant femininity and timeless sophistication. The Parlour, with its nostalgic nod to 1950’s ice-cream parlours, combines playful Neapolitan hues and kitsch, yet well-considered, details like laminate table tops printed with Fortnum’s archival motifs. The Wine Bar is an elegant cellar concept celebrating Fortnum’s deep-rooted association with fine wine, which manifests as an immersive dovetail joint crate finished with liquid metal detailing and crackle-glass pendent lights. The Gallery provides a utilitarian yet inviting refectory-style experience, featuring elegant yet subtle broguing to honed marble counters which elevate the space.

The later addition, The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon, was originally an apartment for the Fortnum family, then an interior decorating department in the 1920’s and 1930’s, and later an antiques department and a restaurant known as St. James’s. The Studio transformed the fourth floor into an elegant Georgian tea room, capturing the ceremonial essence of afternoon tea. Design details include gessoed panelling, parquet de Versailles flooring, and a wicker-panelled reception desk referencing Fortnum’s iconic hampers. The eau de nil colour is subtly incorporated, ensuring the salon is unmistakably Fortnum’s.

The tea salon was opened by Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Her Majesty Queen Camilla and the Duchess of Cambridge, marking a historic moment for Fortnum & Mason. The space was designed with a strong sense of ceremony, ensuring guests could enjoy the theatre of tea preparation and the movement of trolleys abundant with desserts.

Through meticulous attention to detail, sensitivity to Fortnum’s heritage, and a thorough appreciation of the rituals of shopping, entertaining and dining, The Studio’s designs are now integral to the Fortnum’s identity, seamlessly blending past and present to create spaces of enduring allure.

Photography courtesy of Fortnum & Mason