Photography by Ramona d’Viola; graffiti image by John Dole; bar photo by Andrew Jorgensen

With complete design freedom for Vin De Syrah in downtown San Diego, local designer Michael Soriano was able to do what he loves—create a space that gives an immediate response thanks to details that shock and satisfy. “I like creating environments where people react to them, in an intuitive sense, not about what’s right or wrong,” he says.  

He made sure a reaction happened right from the start. From the street, patrons descend a graffiti-lined staircase, pass two noisy refrigerator condensers that blast out heat, and end up at a concrete graffiti-filled foyer with no clearly marked door trying to figure out how to enter the wine lounge (a camera even captures guests’ confusion and it’s shown live on a flatscreen TV by the bar). The answer: the door is actually a wall covered in faux boxwood hedge, complete with a bird doorbell. “I wanted to play into the whole psychological sense of going into a subterranean environment,” Soriano explains, adding that the owners wanted to remove the condensers, but he insisted on keeping them to intensify the experience. “It ramps up your anxiety, so when you finally break into the space, you are so completely gratified.”

  Inside, Soriano has created a whimsical, dreamlike outdoor living   room inspired by turn-of-the-century French brasseries, and  movies like Mary Poppins, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Pirates of the Caribbean, and a bit of Alice in Wonderland. “I like the contrast between the grit and grime of the exterior and the opulence and fantasy of the interior,” Soriano explains. Vintage wine goblets filled with oil lamps seem to float from 75-year-old wine vines; more boxwood hedge envelopes the walls; six-foot tall booths upholstered in vertical stripes line a wall of weeping mortar that Soriano covered in faux moss and fluttering butterflies (he aimed the AC at the wall to ensure movement); cream parasols hang from the exposed ceiling; and LEDs inside jars create the illusion of fireflies.

The 3,500-square-foot room also has an ethereal quality thanks to an abundance of mirrors—on the four original columns in the center of the space, above seating by the bar, and on opposite walls. “I was creating refractions, so you really never have an idea of where you are in the space,” he explains. “You are kind of here, kind of there, but there’s a fluidity to it. You feel connected to the space no matter where you are.”

But the real secret behind the project is that Soriano completed the entire job in 18 weeks, and for just $300,000 (and that includes a $50,000 sound system). “People look at the space and they think we spent a ton of money. That clearly was not the case,” he says. Soriano came up with simple, inventive solutions—stacked inverted clay pots from IKEA form partitions around the 15-foot-long acacia wood tasting table; reclaimed wood planks front and back the bar; shaggy pillows on the center four-piece settee are made from a Z Gallerie rug; used wine barrels are now chandeliers; and a $75 piece of wallpaper of a tree-lined grass path was framed and illuminated in the “den” to give the effect of a picture window. “It almost gives the feeling that you can step into it,” he says.

For a 360-degree tour of Syrah, click here.

Vin De Syrah Spirit and Wine Parlor
San Diego

Owner: Cohn Restaurant Group
Interior Design Firm: Onairos Design, San Diego
Interior Design Project Team: Michael Soriano
Contractor: Simon Hume Construction

MAIN ROOM AND ENTRY
Chairs: Crate and Barrel
Seat Cushions: Sunbrella
Circular Settee and Entry Table: Quality and Company
Frame: Perennials
Cocktail Tables: Brocade Home
Suspension Pendant: Flos
Umbrella: Bella Umbrellas
Wall Hedge Material: Commercial Silk International
Throw Pillows: Designed by Onairos Design; fabricated by Z Gallerie
Upholstery Fabrication: Robnetts Upholstery

TASTING TABLE
Chairs: Blu Dot
Vinyl Coverlets: Onairos Design
Upholstery Fabrication: Robnetts Upholstery
Table: David Allen Collection
Suspended Goblets: Onairos Design; fabricated by Vincent Designs
Buffet: Pottery Barn Kids
Troughs: Vincent Designs

BAR
Barstools: Blu Dot
Fabric Coverlets: Onairos Design; fabricated by Upholstery Fabric Outlet
Bar Back Shelves: Onairos Design; fabricated by Vincent Designs
Reclaimed Barn Wood: Vintage Lumber
Bar Die Upholstery: Robnetts Upholstery
Purse Hooks: Lampshades Unlimited
Pendants and Gnomes: Solo Cedros
Soffit: Earth Flora
High Bar Tables: Blueprint Furniture
Wallpaper: Cole and Son
Chandelier: Walter Anderson Nursery

SITTING ROOM
Club Chairs: Onairos Design; fabricated by Upholstery Fabric Outlet
Fabric: Sunbrella
Low Cocktail Tables: Blueprint Furniture
Drapery: Shades of Light
Fabric: Maharam
Wallpaper: Mural Mural Superstore
Mantel Lamp: Moooi
Fireplace: Electric Fireplaces Direct

SITTING BOOTHS
Lounges: Designed by Onairos Design; fabricated by Upholstery Fabric Outlet
Fabric: Sunbrella
Wall Tables: Exotic Hardwoods
Tables: Designed by Onairos Design; fabricated Tassahara Designs
Pendants: Roost
Wall Planters: Designed by Onairos Designs; fabricated by Vincent Designs
Hedge Material: IKEA
Wall Moss: Commercial Silk International
Carpet: FLOR