J.K. Lounge also carries the signature of Michele Bonan who has reinvented the rules for a contemporary classicism which combines the seductive atmosphere of the 50’s in an overall masculine tone with touches of “Animalier” and modern photographic works, together with flashes of ethnicity and ironic references to the 70’s. This a true form of sophisticated comedy which plays out while one savours a delicious Club Sandwich, an expertly made Martini cocktail, or a glass of fine wine taken by the black neo-classical fireplace which finds its counterpoint in the fireplace in white marble on the opposite side of the wall in the lobby of J.K. Place. The colourful juxtaposition of ivory white and both polished and opaque black colours, wengè, as well as the comforting Georgian-style grey-green panelling, together with architectural prints and a décor that is both reassuring and subtly chic, give the lounge that perfect “dejeuner de ville” feel.
The downstairs of the J.K. Lounge is immediately and strikingly different. Michele Bonan has conceived a before and after dinner setting completely in white, furnished with long sofas stretching uninterrupted along each side wall, lending themselves to reinvention through the enchanting play of chromatic lighting. Here we find ourselves in the seductiveness of the underground, pop-art style, a space that is at once unexpected and inviting. If, on the ground floor, we can imagine ourselves seated in the company of the Dukes of Windsor, the sublime Audrey Hepburn, a stylized Capucine in Chanel, Fiona Thyssen or listening to the sarcastic wit of a Truman Capote, downstairs we are immersed in a revocation of the roaring New York parties of the Seventies and Eighties a là Studio 54, the lost golden era of disco music, the exciting composite work of Warhol’s “factory” mingling with Halston and Bianca Jagger, Liza Minelli and Francesco Clemente, charmed by the time-less allure of Nan Kempner or accosted by the sensuous glitter of the feline Grace Jones.
