A majestic HIMACS bar counter for Roederer Champagne

The wines produced by Louis Roederer, one of the last great independent, family-run champagne wineries, are the fruit of a combination of balance, tradition and talent.

For Roederer’s new tasting room and the entrance to its wine cellars, the architectural firm APB-INGENIERIE, which was responsible for the project in partnership with interior decorator Alexandra Kalinine and designer Thomas Beauclair, enlisted the services of furniture maker Kieffer Menuiserie to build out the bar and other features. In designing the bar, the cabinetmaker set its sights on HIMACS, the material that integrates traditional and modern aesthetics.

When you set foot inside the tasting room, you find yourself in a space imbued with light and crystalline purity, with the majestic horseshoe-shaped bar made of HIMACS taking centre stage in a subtle mix of white, greige and gold.

According to Kieffer Menuiserie, HIMACS was the obvious choice, “for its intrinsic qualities, its non-porousness, its soft tactile finish, its thermoformability into 3D shapes with tight radii and its seamless assembly.”

The bar looks like it was carved out of a single block, including not only the top and the apron but also the sides. Delicate brass trim runs around the outside of the bar top, in an elegant nod to the winery’s champagne bottles. The sink, cabinets and refrigerators fit perfectly in the back of the bar, with no aesthetic discrepancies.

The biggest challenge was the rounded, conical shape, which required the creation of matched moulds in order to shape the material. The seamless, tulip-shaped apron completes the bar and its appearance as a solid, continuous unit.

For Kieffer Menuiserie, “this type of project demanded great precision in order to produce a result that would be in keeping with Roederer’s image. Every piece of HIMACS had to be machined, thermoformed and assembled with the highest attention to detail, so as to achieve a flawless finish, especially with the recessed lighting.”

HIMACS is the ideal material for this high-traffic location, and especially for high-touch surfaces, where there can be no compromise on hygiene and cleanliness. HIMACS is particularly sturdy, durable, stain resistant and easy to clean, qualities that protect it against the ravages of time.

This sculptural bar, with its clean lines, completely smooth finish and soft, silky feel, blends perfectly with the rest of the room, echoing the glossy brass-inlaid pieces that reproduce the Roederer monogram, as well as the displays that likewise feature brass elements.