Situated in the Principal Place development, between Liverpool Street and Shoreditch High Street stations, Camino is a 75-cover tapas bar and 70-cover restaurant, accessible from the ground floor via a heated 40-cover outdoor terrace with festoon lighting.
Acclaimed architectural interior design company, B3 Designers, has channelled the dusty pink stones, warm wood tones and unglazed terracotta tiles, weathered walls and vibrant pops of mustard and red synonymous with the Castile y Léon region within the welcoming, relaxed ambience of Camino.
Led by Rory Saunders, the design team worked closely with Camino’s owner, Richard Bigg, who created Camino following a life-changing road-trip across Spain in the 1980s. Richard regularly travels around the country today, collecting unique items and bric-a-brac from street markets and antique shops. Many of his finds – including a 2m2 antique map, hand-blown bottles and vintage posters – adorn the restaurant.
The bar to the left of the entrance provides a key focal point; its front formed from thin strips of oak with metal, resembling deconstructed barrels, and its glass counter made from recycled wine bottles. This same reclaimed surface is used on the table-tops of the bar area, along with bespoke lighting in the form of suspended metal cages which hold bottles of assorted forms and colours, as well as futuristic illuminated resin tubes.
The restaurant area is warmer in tone, featuring a rustic palette of colours and finishes. Brown leather chairs with steel frames, dark wooden tables, deep red and mustard banquettes and intimate booths are all framed by terracotta-coloured distressed walls and rows of salvaged doors that cleverly divide the restaurant from the tapas bar and beyond.
Exposed lightbulbs, wall lights, lantern-style and delicate grape-shaped light fittings balance out the concrete floor to bring the sense of warmth and conviviality B3 Designers wished to create.
The real highlight of the interior, however, is a trio of specially-commissioned traditional tiled murals adorning the walls, one of which is a fitting tribute to Bigg’s mode of transport on his first fateful Spanish adventure decades ago – his beloved tiny black Mini.
