satelliet originals flourishes hospitality interiors with furnishing collection

Satelliet Originals: furnishing hospitality with flair

Dutch brand Satelliet Originals’ characterful collections result from decades of craft experience and a rich array of design partners – offering the bespoke and robust solutions demanded by modern hospitality spaces.

The Street Food Club worked with Satelliet Originals to hone furniture pieces that fit the mood of the tropical-themed venue. A mix of standard and customized chairs are used in the Breda club

When Lars Snellaars was commissioned to design a restaurant inspired by the 1920s just as we came out of pandemic lockdown, the connection between what was happening then (emergence from the Spanish Flu, world war and economic downturn) and now, struck him. His seating designs for the project were all richly pigmented velvet, long fringed trim and a gold frame, details that recalled a carefree heel-clicking, skirt-swishing Charleston dancer. For him it represented a feeling of freedom; a call to party. ‘The inspiration was dancing people who are celebrating life after this period,’ he says. ‘The frame gives flexibility for sitting and chatting to everyone around you in a bar area. The velvet fabric gives an exciting feeling together with the gold frame in a crossed shape that symbolizes togetherness.’ The design, which he entitled ReUnited, has now been developed into a collection for Dutch design brand Satelliet Originals, the new customizable furniture line for hospitality selling the sort of high-quality originality now craved by the restaurant industry.

Lars Snellaars has designed a line of chairs and stools called ReUnited, inspired by the Charleston era of the 1920s, and events common to then and now that make us want to get out and party

Restaurant design is no longer a blank canvas

Tasseled bar stools may be far from the modernist rigor we associate with the long popular Nordic-style hospitality and cool pared-back café culture, but that perhaps is the point – after all the prescriptive polish and stripped-down sameness that characterized restaurants around the globe before the disruptions of Covid, war and economic uncertainty, we are more than ready for a bit of flair and adventure in our interiors. We want storied schemes, sensorial wealth and warmth, something just a little bit different.

We are more than ready for a bit of flair and adventure in our interiors

Consistent quality, individual designs

This is the thinking that has given rise to Satelliet Originals, a spin-off from the 52-year-old parent company, Satelliet, a veteran of hospitality furniture-making. For this new, forward-focused brand, the idea is to combine the making prowess of Satelliet with the inspirations and expertise of designers out in the field like Snellaars and Erik Remmers alongside Studio Satelliet’s own duo of Chris Montijn-Spiering and Wessel Storms. ‘Furniture used in hospitality projects must meet very high quality standards because it is used intensively,’ says Remmers. ‘What makes Satelliet Originals so strong is that all models really have their own distinct character with beautiful details and materials, but can still guarantee a high quality. The designers who contribute to the collection also all have different backgrounds, which results in their own approach to a design with its own signature’.

Erik Remmers’ series of chairs Pebble were conceived with Katchya, Rotterdam in mind. Celebrating his favorite material, wood, they can be made original by mixing up details and upholstery

Designing in the field

The value of working with the like of Snellaars and Remmers is that these are people tasked in their daily lives with talking to restaurant owners and conceiving ideas for new hospitality ventures; the stories and inspirations they are fed generate fresh furniture design and keep them moving with the times. Remmers, who has designed ‘Pebble’ for the collection, runs interior design studio Art2Go which shapes commercial interiors.

‘Entrepreneurs, creatives and project developers are given the tools they need to jointly create the most inspiring hospitality locations. Design truly is what you make of it’ 

When furnishing Kyatcha, a restaurant project in Rotterdam, he felt the need for more wood in the seating offering. ‘I approached Satelliet Originals with my design because I thought there were too many chairs with metal frames. I love wooden frames with details that show that craftsmanship was required. Pebble has slender, tapered legs and a beautiful curved wooden detail at the backside against the softly upholstered back.’

Chris Monjin-Spiering and Wessel Storms of in-house design team Studio Satelliet have added Code to the collection, a chair available in four colors that is made from 100% post-consumer recycled material

Joining Satelliet Originals’ brand book, which will officially launch at Salone del Mobile 2023 in Milan, is also Elise Luttik’s chair Chester, which like Pebble pulls wood up to the table. Chester is made entirely from ash, but gives the illusion of cushioned leather through the back with clever impressions in the wood. Studio Satelliet, meanwhile, has been working hard to bring Code and Current to the mix – chairs made entirely from post-consumer recycled materials.

Satelliet Originals prides itself on its connections to dynamic designers, many of whom work in hospitality interior design. All the newest pieces will be on show at Salone del Mobile in Milan

The collection is set to grow, but the point of bringing uniqueness and edge to restaurant interiors would be lost but for Satelliet Originals’ equal commitment to customization – through careful selection of color, material and finish, every project can be original. ‘Each piece of furniture has its own character, its own face, and in this way supports the identity of a concept or interior. What makes it complete are the infinite possibilities in terms of upholstery and finishes,’  explains Maico Pheninckx, creative consultant at Satelliet. ‘Entrepreneurs, creatives and project developers are given the tools they need to jointly create the most inspiring hospitality locations. Design truly is what you make of it.’ 

Guest Feature by Emma Moore / Architonic