Stars is a 450-square-foot, 12-seat wine bar in New York’s East Village, but its compact size is part of its charm. The project, which is Studio Valle de Valle’s smallest and first bar to date, uses its boxy floorplan to maximize materiality. The concept, helmed by proprietor Chase Sinzer (also behind Claude and Penny), is an ode to downtown and its art scene. Naturally, work by Frank Stella peppers the space.
Studio Valle de Valle’s design works in tandem with the artwork but also lives up to its namesake. Warm, orange-hued lighting sets the space aglow. On the ceiling, a light fixture on creates the illusion of a skylight or, more aptly, the radiance of a bright star.
Natural materials with hand-spun textures create spaces for the light to shine. The walls are wrapped in brushed cedar panels. The floor is made up of a fusion red stone, chosen for its brushstroke-like patterns. The warm materials are contrasted by the space’s anchor: a hand-finished, horseshoe-shaped zinc bar. The swaths of the finish on the bar are left exposed, adding to the figurative finishes of the design.
It’s complemented by custom mahogany bar stools with a slightly upturned seat for better ergonomics. They’re lit with lamps from 1936 by Josef Frank and enlivened by a custom sound system by Tom Bloxam. The main speaker is a single unit, dual-channel stereo with mahogany finish to mirror the look of the stools.
The figurative approach allude to the works of Stella, two of which—No Smoking and Noguchi’s Okinawa Woodpecker—hang in the space, on loan from the Stella family. The latter hangs beyond the bar, in view from the entry. The former decorates the bathroom, also clad in wood panels and red stone. The New York–based firm left no detail unturned in this starry jewel box.