When nightlife impresario Michael Satsky took over the Garden of Ono space at the Hotel Gansevoort in New York and wanted to turn it into a new Meatpacking District hotspot called Provocateur, he turned to veteran nightclub designer Lionel Ohayon. The directive: create a place that caters to women.
With that in mind, Ohayon turned the outdoor part of the space into a fantastical garden. "The intention was to sit in an ethereal garden space and peer into dollhouse vignettes that all convey a surreal fantasy space," explains Ohayon, founder of local firm ICRAVE. "There is a sense that you are spying into someone’s private dream." There’s brightly painted metal garden chairs and a center row of banquettes done in various floral patterns. A toile pattern showcasing architectural scenes from the Meatpacking District and a purple houndstooth mirror create the backdrop for the main cantilevering bar. "We are taking a traditional element and making reference to the neighborhood, anchoring the space within the context of the neighborhood," Ohayon says.
Yet the standout: eight surreal, playful vignette murals—from a voyeuristic library to a sumptuous boudoir—line the walls and continue down the center piece of the banquettes standing in front of them, almost has if they were painted on the seating and up the walls. "The murals were meant to frame the whimsical picturesque center garden, creating the backdrop for eight private staged ‘rooms,’" Ohayon explains, adding that the murals were printed on fabric and stretched from the top of the banquette back to the bottom. "They create a scene that envelops each table making patrons feel like they are part of a room." His favorite? The mural they refer to as the Yellow Rubber Duck. "There is a bit of mystery and comic in this graphic, almost like somebody just took a bath in the room and left bananas all over the floor, making people wonder what the bananas were used for," he says.
Inside, Ohayon created the nightclub "to feel like the interior of a dollhouse where femininity meets dominatrix." Massive metal wings made by two guys Ohayon met at Burning Man festival hover over the main bar; LEDs change the color of the space throughout the night; and a series of V-shaped steps move up the walls onto the ceiling. "The steps create the framework of the arched space and imply that more spaces exist beyond, continuing the sense of mystery," he says. "The intimacy of the nightclub creates an unmatched experience in the club for both the patron and the DJ. We wanted to make the space feel like a single ‘party’ with great interaction between performer and audience."
