BREAD AND BEER AT CHESTER ST BAKERY AND BAR

Chester Street Bakery and Bar

32a Chester St, Newstead, Brisbane 4006
(07) 3852 4130 or www.chesterstreet.com.au

The latest offering from Damian Griffith’s growing empire sees the entrepreneur team up with designer Alex Lotersztain. Stepping outside of the Constance Street precinct, Chester Street has a slightly different design philosophy to Griffith’s other venues, with Alexander Lotersztain opting for an open, minimalist aesthetic.

A bakery by day, the Alan Scott-designed, Dennis Benson-built wood-fired oven has been given pride of place. Lotersztain chose the bluest of cobalt blue tiles he could find.

With its contrasting Tasmanian oak and shiny tiled surfaces, Chester Street is a modern take on a bakery meets bar. The off-white tiled walls dappled with accents of light blue pay homage to Brisbane’s sky on a clear and sunny day.

Lotersztain has custom designed the lighting and furniture to merge modern function with elements of nostalgia, with wooden potato trays from Holland repurposed to display the freshly baked bread. He sourced the comfortable outdoor furniture that Lotersztain from the Czech Republic.

At night, the same cobalt blue tiles from the oven will glisten against the lights, turning the space into a sophisticated, neighbourhood bar. The Bolet hanging lights designed by Lotersztain’s Derlot Editions are powder coated in a blue specifically customised for the Chester Street design.

One Third, a collaboration initiated by Lotersztain that sees contemporary Derlot-designed furniture made in Tasmania, has produced the tables and stools. “Overseas visitors and travelers may recognize some of the furniture at Chester Street from The Monocle Café in London which recently opened off Marylebone High Street,” Lotersztain says.

“We looked at designing the space around the products themselves, the many functions that the bakery and bar has to perform, and of course the freshly-baked bread that is the star of the show,” he says.