Zodiac is the latest bar to open in the new Shangkang Li in Shanghai's Jin An District.
CLIENT
LEAD DESIGNER
Hannah Churchill
DESIGN TEAM
Louisa Li
PHOTOGRAPHY
Brian Chua
The small footprint needed to feel intimate without becoming static. The bar also had to give the zodiac concept a strong identity while supporting different modes of use — watching, drinking, participating and sitting privately — and make mixologist Geo Valdivieso’s cocktail-making process part of the guest experience.
The room feels theatrical but still comfortable. The sunken bar, participatory cocktail station and layered zodiac graphics give guests multiple things to discover, while the deep-red palette and soft seating keep the atmosphere intimate. Within a very small space, the design creates a clear journey and a memorable identity centred on interaction — turning the act of making and drinking a cocktail into part of the entertainment.
A copper-tinted street window offers the first glimpse inside, followed by a small dark foyer that creates a pause before guests move upward into the main room. There, a gleaming sunken copper bar places the bartender below the guest’s eye line, turning service into theatre. A DIY station invites customers behind the bar to make a cocktail with the bartender, while a one-way mirror doubles as a screen for animated zodiac visuals. Deep red walls and velvet banquettes create warm, enclosed seating pockets. Across one wall, The Orangeblowfish’s edgy, baroque interpretations of the star signs give the concept a strong graphic presence.
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