IN GOOD SPIRITS. A non-alcoholic bar and bottle shop in Chicago's West Town

Flagship retail design for IN GOOD SPIRITS. A non-alcoholic bar and bottle shop in Chicago's West Town designed by POINTS OF SAIL, and produced by RAINBOLT PRODUCTIONS.
The concept of non-alcoholic bars is a growing market in the USA. These new types of establishments for the sober curious are already visible in New York and Los Angeles. IN GOOD SPIRITS is the first brand to bring that new experience in Chicago. Founded by Adriana Gaspar and Hector Diaz, IN GOOD SPIRITS creates space for sober and sober-curious individuals to come together for a wide range of non-alcoholic experiences. Their mission is to refresh social rituals through diverse product offerings and experiences that decenter alcohol, while breaking the social constructs that pit sobriety against socialization.

For their first retail space in the city, they approached POINTS OF SAIL: a Chicago based design and architecture agency founded by James Langford and Larry Tchogninou. POINTS OF SAIL takes an outsider approach to solve problems and create new questions. With a practice covering architectural, set, interior, furniture and product design, they use the world of nautical design as muse.

Located in the West Town community of the city, the existing space is inside a typical Chicago old style brick building. It features tiles on the floor and a lime plaster ceiling. The challenging part of this project was to create a symbiosis between the existing space and the new program that will go in it. How to match the past, the present and the future?

The concept for this space was to create a jewelry store where the bottles are the gems. We went for a monochromatic blue furnished space that uses a gradient of materiality. Dark blue as a color core to the IN GOOD SPIRITS brand identity. Blue makes a warm and welcoming space through variegated tones in OSB. The space features 9 custom furniture pieces all generated from a circle as base shape. A family of objects in dialogue, stemming from the intersection of curves and verticality. Shelves, PVC curtain that separates the front from the back of the house, wall pieces, counter, stools, a central table, and a chandelier. The main materiality is a stained OSB, in conversation with perforated metal, PVC, and mirrors.

The buildout was handled by a Chicago based production company named RAINBOLT PRODUCTIONS, and founded by Erica Gressman. Her incredible skills in fabrication truly helped to bring this project to life in such a short time.

Get a drink, not get drunk and have some new ideas!