Nexus Brewery Silver Taproom
By Rozanna M. Martinez / Of The Journal
Friday, January 13th, 2017 at 12:01am
“Nexus Silver Taproom may have opened its doors in June, but something about its interior was not quite right for owner Ken Carson. “We started off with a design that I didn’t feel comfortable (with), so I decided to go back to the drawing board and redo the interior,” Carson said. “So it’s like a lot of light fixtures were changed, colors were changed on the walls, really unique features have been added that make it more than unique than it was.” Nexus Silver Taproom serves patrons on Albuquerque’s West Side and is a branch of Nexus Brewery, which Carson also owns. Carson turned to PATRICIAN DESIGN for the revamp.”
The original interior had all hard surfaces paired with harsh colors including shocking white and electric blue walls all of which contributed to a jarring, cold feel of the space. We needed to add warmth and contrast to balance the elements.
We picked a dark taupe color, which goes well with the existing slate stone and definitely warms up the environment. Rather than breaking up the wall with different colors, we made the warm taupe the uniform backdrop. The silver-tones against taupe are a strikingly contrasting combination. So, we also had some custom-fabricated light drums made using a silver finished metal. They’re like huge over-scaled metallic lampshades made with perforated steel. The perf material is translucent – so when we cluster multiple light bulbs in them, they provide a pleasing, twinkly effect. Warm glowing elliptical glass pendants hang uniformly over the bar replacing randomly suspended icy blue globes. The warm white glow softens and blends well with the golden tones of the beer in the photographs. They also soften, with warm contrast, the cool aluminum at the can wall and is a continuation of the theme we began at the first location, Nexus Brewery.
A new full wall mirror provides seamless dimension and reflection at the back bar giving the illusion of the space being continued and open through to the back.
Art inspired by Nexus Silver Taproom is part of the new decor. Because the focus is on the beer, we took photographs their beer in various glasses, vessels and growlers, most of which are set against our most spectacular feature, the can wall. The backdrop to the bar, because the space was too shallow for use for storage or service, needed to have interest. Therefore, we wrapped it entirely with crushed aluminum beer cans, creating a dramatic visual effect of pattern and light reiterating the silver color.
