In a cosmopolitan city like Melbourne, there is no shortage of incredibly delicious, exceptionally designed hospitality offerings. It’s impossible not to encounter at least one new opening a week if you spend even a fraction of your time on social media. 

When Orlo, James Klapanis’s latest hospitality venture in Collingwood opened a few months ago, the opening party was so well attended by friends, family and eager inner northsiders, the restaurant reached capacity within moments of opening its doors.

There are many reasons a restaurant opens to such fanfare. And many more reasons why some restaurants endure and become iconic, such as Vue de monde and Entrecote. Orlo, designed by founder of McCluskey Studio and Interior Design Excellence Award (IDEA) Emerging Designer of the Year finalist Kate McCluskey Kyle, is arguably one of the most needed and exciting new restaurants to open in recent years. 

To say a restaurant is needed, when we’ve just identified that there are almost as many restaurants and cafes in Melbourne as there are tram stops and Groodles, is a bold statement. However, in this case, it is completely founded. Inspired by the joy of sharing Mediterranean cuisine, every element of Orlo — from the four unique dining spaces spread over three levels to the dynamic and absolutely sensational ever-changing menu curated by executive chef and culinary director Matteo Tine — comes back to the notion of warmth, welcome and genuine hospitality. Given the fact that Orlo occupies the heritage-listed space of a former cordial factory in Collingwood, the transformation was no easy task.

Elevating the everyday 

Collingwood has undergone a significant period of gentrification in recent years. Many former factories have already been transformed into ultra-cool, highly desirable apartments that Emily Cooper or Carrie Bradshaw would willingly give up a Chanel bag or pair of Manolos for. Yet, strangely there are very few restaurants in the area; fewer still that are driven by design, catering to the refined aesthetic and gastronomical tastes of Collingwood’s upwardly mobile locals. Enter Orlo. 

From the moment you approach Orlo from a bustling Oxford Street, you’re struck by a feeling that something special and a little bit magical awaits behind the brick facade. Perhaps it’s the warm, rich red earth tone of the bricks themselves, punctuated by double-height milk-chocolate-coloured arched timber windows, an oversized rustic timber door, and accented moments of white on the Victorian details. Or, perhaps it’s an instinctual recognition that this once-overlooked yet important heritage building has been restored with care, consideration and respect. 

Orlo exudes quality and authenticity. Entering through the rustic doors, a sense of hospitality in the truest sense of the word envelops you. As with all the most memorable dining experiences, it’s impossible to take it all in at once. From an interior design perspective, McCluskey Kyles’s signature style which combines heritage, vintage and the ultra-modern in a seamless, effortless way, comes to the fore. Here, in one of the studio’s very first projects, McCluskey Kyle has transformed a humble factory into a delightful, quintessentially Melbourne experience.

As a designer, when it comes to renovations, particularly heritage renovations and restorations, McCluskey Kyle sees herself as a collaborator, working with the existing structure of a building to bring out its quirks rather than hide them. “I like to celebrate [the original elements] rather than try to modernise something that is already really beautiful,” McCluskey says. “This is especially relevant here in Melbourne, where there is a European feel throughout so many of the neighbourhoods, particularly in the inner north.” 

Cohesion comes from collaborating with heritage and embracing quirks

This appreciation and respect for heritage underpins the design at Orlo. “There are four main spaces within the venue. The main level is the dining area, which is really rich in original structural timber and we really wanted to celebrate this,” McCluskey Kyle says. “Downstairs we have The Cordial Club, a 1930s-inspired bar which we wanted to be a little bit more intimate. It’s where you come for your first drinks before heading upstairs to dine. Then there is the outside courtyard area. We wanted this space to feel like you’re sitting in a laneway somewhere in Europe. It’s full of natural light and mass plantings of olive trees. And then there is the private dining room upstairs on the mezzanine, which is a really intimate space.”

With so many individually distinct spaces housed within one building envelope, there is a risk that the spaces begin to compete with one another. Or, worse yet, that the whole becomes fragmented. Nothing could be further from the truth here. Connection and kinship emanate through each space. It’s almost as if the very building itself is a cherished friend. 

Which is exactly the atmosphere that Klapanis was hoping for. “For me, it’s about giving back to the community, giving back to the industry in the sense that I could have just sort of said, you know what, [after] 30, 40 years in the industry, I’ve done restaurants, I’ve done hotels, I’ve done all that. But, I love it,” reflects Klapanis. “For me, it doesn’t matter how bad it gets out there [referring to the current cost of living crisis]. I saw through [the pandemic] that people want to go out, they want to hold a glass of wine, they want to connect with their friends, talk about their bad luck stories, their good luck stories. This is the core of humanity. People together around a fire, around a table, breaking bread. We’re social creatures.”

That little bit of magic. When design moments and sumptuous materials collide

The challenge for a designer is translating the client’s vision into reality. The secret perhaps is to develop a strong relationship and sense of trust between designer and client, and to think about the process as a 360-degree experience. 

“We always look at things holistically,” McCluskey Kyle says. “With Orlo, James [the client] was very hands-on and engaged from the very beginning. This project speaks to his heritage as much as it does the heritage of the building. The overall ethos of the design is to speak to and create moments of a European and Mediterranean feel, while still allowing moments of industrial Collingwood to creep in. It’s a hybrid of the two. I think it comes together through the material and colour palette, the inclusion of vintage pieces discovered by James, and bespoke interventions that work with the nuances of the original building structure. We didn’t want everything to be super perfect.”

As with many of McCluskey’s residential projects, material tactility and nods to classic design eras such as Art Deco and Modernism take centre stage. But, it’s in a hospitality setting that she’s really able to embrace the interplay of material, surface, texture, colour and scale.

The original bluestone and timber structural beams collide with moments of smooth brushed brass, fluted natural timber cladding on the bar beneath a raw pink natural stone that has the patina of age but is actually new. Classic black and white Deco floor tiles play off warm orange-painted stairs and balustrades. Sumptuous, billowing velvet curtains and vintage lights sourced from places as exotic as a deconsecrated church in Rome soften and illuminate various spaces to create intimacy exactly when and where it’s needed. 

Ultimately, it’s all about creating moments for people to connect. “I’m always asking myself, ‘how do you design a space so that you can create connections?’” McCluskey Kyle says. “Rather than just making it look pretty, we really want to create different spaces, different areas for experience and connection.”

Drawing on years of experience, combined with her innate flair for material juxtapositions, McCluskey Kyle has achieved the seemingly impossible — a fresh new hospitality venue that oozes timeless ‘it’ factor, yet somehow feels like it has always been there. 

Photography credit: Timothy Kaye.

Check out the IDEA Emerging Designers of the Year, including McCluskey Studio