Conversation, rare: Heather Garrett
Interior designer, Heather Garrett, and her husband, Rhys Botica, opened the downtown NC Main Street Bar, Whiskey. The private club has a 1930’s style to it, a 27-foot, narrow wooden bar. Botica, the sole proprietor, started the bar with the intention to offer the largest selection of whiskeys in the state, and now has the largest selection in the South, at over 400 labels. Garrett used antique gymnasium doors for wall panels, and the 100-yr old building has its original tin ceiling and oak flooring. Live jazz is played on Thursday and Saturday nights. The custom cocktail list is a research project on Pre-Prohibition Era Cocktails and they are served in vintage glasses collected by Botica. There is a second floor lounge, with its own private entrance, boasting another Art Deco bar, private humidors for its members to store their high-end cigars, antique rugs, and a small library. The innovative couple is currently working on their second design of another business, on Rigsbee Avenue, an area of town that has seen significant revitalization. “This is a really special city that’s waking up in a way that I want to be a part of,” says Garrett.
Where did the concept for Whiskey come from?
Since the owner, Rhys Botica, had successfully launched several pubs with a grittier, edgier feel, we decided it would be nice to create a place which would inspire people to dress up and make a night of it. He knew alot about whiskey, and had extensively researched the subject of Pre-Prohibition drinks, so Whiskey seemed a natural name.
How did you decide to design it the way you did?
Rhys fell in love with an antique 27’ bar even before he had a location or much of a concept in mind (he drove to Queens and pulled it out of its original storefront himself), so we used that piece as our jumping off point for design. The space we found was long and narrow, and that defined a lot about how we approached the plan. Rhys loves to say that if he’d had his way, Whiskey would look a lot more like a saloon than the Oak-Room-With-A-Twist style which emerged. We talked a lot about the vibe he hoped to achieve, and I began sketching the design…a mix of vintage and modern for the lighting and leather furnishings, with texture being the important detail…Venetian plaster walls, onyx candle fixtures, antique brass trim on the leather club chairs. Very sophisticated.
How long did the project take for you to finish?
About 9 months, start to finish.
Do you cook yourself?
I love to cook, especially for my children. Cooking wasn’t much of a ritual in our home while I was growing up; in my early twenties, as I was living alone in NYC, I decided to learn how to create that certain comfort which comes from the work of cooking good food.
Have you designed any other restaurants? Do you plan to?
I completed Giorgio, a huge local 6700 s/f project with a modern Mediterranean flavor - both in food and design - in 2009. Rhys and I have teamed up again for our second project together, Kotuku Surf Club, a restaurant/bar which recalls elements of post-Rugby gatherings with friends in his native New Zealand. Slated to open late October 2011.
How long have you been designing?
After attending Parsons in NYC, I began working for a French designer there (Robert Couturier) in 2000. I opened my own firm, Heather Garrett Design, Inc when I relocated to NC in 2002.
Favorite thing on the Whiskey menu?
The French 75 cocktail!
When did the restaurant/bar launch?
The main level lounge opened July 2009, and we opened a second private members-only lounge (with its own antique Deco bar) upstairs in March of this year.
Some interesting facts about the space- what was it before, etc?
We found an available space on Durham’s historic “Five Points” corner, which was once the center of the world’s tobacco trade (Lucky Strike, American Tobacco, Ligett & Meyers cigarettes were all produced here). The 100-yr old building has its original tin ceiling and oak flooring. We used solid oak antique gymnasium doors as wall panels, and installed pendant lights from a mid-Century renovation of a Philadelphia convention hall.
What projects are you currently working on?
We’re incredibly busy. Right now, in addition to Kotuku and two large residential remodels in Naples FL and Chapel Hill NC, we’ve just launched an online, professional approach to DIY interior decorating and design! www.hgHOMEdurham.com. Oh, and we’re moving our design studio into a historic former service station in September.
