The Benowa Tavern
Benowa, Gold Coast.
Queensland, Australia.
The commission given to us by development company Thoroughbred International was to create an original concept for the interior of their soon to be created tavern. We were then tasked with creating and fabricating original artworks for the three bars and associated buildings of the tavern complex. Thoroughbred International was heavily involved in horse racing so we decided to bring that theme into the cocktail bar and restaurant.
The Flemington Room was based around turn of the century racing at Melbourne's iconic racetrack. The main restaurant became the Thoroghbred Lounge and was themed on the historic running of the 1890 Melbourne Cup. The feature highlight of the room is a rich timber panel mural of racehorse Carbine winning the cup, airbrushed in natural colours using wood stain.
The large public bar area was to become the Settlers Bar and was decorated with rich decorative wood artworks. A variety of different woods and decorative processes were used, including sandblasting, carving and airbrush staining. When creating the tavern concept, we often drew on historical pictures and references of the era and used our skills to bring them to a modern setting.
This project was unique for us in respect of the quantity of artwork involved and how early it happened in our Gold Coast careers. It was also the first major project where the Burnett-Jones brothers collaborated with friend and artist, John Beamish.
Sadly, after many years the tavern was sold and later redeveloped so most of the artwork is now gone and becomes part of Gold Coast history. The pictures in this gallery show the creation of the artworks, through to the installation and finished tavern.
Benowa Tavern Gallery
