One Fifth
Marc Forgione's Greenwich Village restaurant, built from the history of its own address.
71 Collective
Hospitality spaces with a point of view.
We design restaurants, bars, nightlife destinations and gathering places, from the first idea through construction and opening.
Concept-led. Operationally informed. Built to be remembered.
Fig. 01 — Paradise Lost, East Village, New York Photo: Noah Fecks
01 — Featured project
Read the case studyEast Village, New York · Tiki bar
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost takes the tiki bar somewhere darker. Demonic, psychobilly and punk influences meet a macabre reading of Americana, and the room is built to transport guests out of the East Village entirely.
Eclectic maximalism, executed with discipline. Hidden kinetic effects, curated artifacts and volcanism-themed materiality layer into a continuously evolving environment. Charred woodwork, custom sculptures and a Rum Club leaderboard give the bar a language of its own.
Months of curation went into the artifacts, custom sculptures and kinetic effects hidden throughout the room.
View the case study
02 — Selected work
All projectsThe kind of places we want to keep making.
03 — Recognition
Press, awards and clientsRooms that get written about.
Michelin Guide · 2022
One Michelin Star
Awarded to Clover Hill, a tasting-menu restaurant we planned into 600 square feet.
Michelin Guide entry- AN Interior · Turk's Inn The Turk's Inn graces Brooklyn with a 70s supper club and jazzy music venue straight from Wisconsin
- Eater DC · Sonny's Pizza The 17 Most Beautiful Restaurants That Opened in D.C. This Year
- Forbes · Clover Hill Meet Clover Hill, Brooklyn's Tiny But Mighty Michelin-Starred Restaurant Reimagining Fine Dining
- Galerie · One Fifth 6 of New York City's Most Beautiful New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide · Clover Hill Clover Hill — Michelin Guide entry
- The New York Times · One Fifth One Fifth, Serving Updated Italian Fare, Is Set to Open in Greenwich Village
- The Washington Post · Sonny's Pizza Sonny's is a New York-style slice shop that's perfect for D.C.
As seen in: AN Interior · Eater DC · Eater NY · Forbes · Galerie · Gothamist · Michelin Guide · Minnesota Monthly · The New York Times · The Washington Post · Wine Spectator · WWD
04 — Why 71 Collective
Concept-led, and serious about getting it built.
Most owners have met two kinds of designer: the one with the great idea who disappears when the drawings get hard, and the one who delivers on time but never had an idea. We were built to be neither.
- 01
The partners are on your project
Gaines and Felipe lead every job themselves, from the first meeting to the opening night. Decisions are made by the people who will be accountable for them.
- 02
Planning that starts with service
Kitchens, bars, service stations, storage, queues and sightlines are designed alongside the atmosphere, not after it. A beautiful room that fights its staff does not stay beautiful.
- 03
One team from concept to opening
We carry the idea through documentation, procurement and construction rather than handing it off. The concept does not get diluted between phases.
- 04
Unusual ideas, made buildable
A programmable LED wall, a rink-safe lounge, 900 catalogued artifacts, a back bar shaped like a brand mark. We enjoy the ideas that make contractors nervous, and we know how to draw them.
- 05
Custom fabrication and sourcing
We design and commission millwork, lighting, objects and art, and we bring relationships with fabricators and suppliers who can produce them on a hospitality budget and schedule.
- 06
Coordination as a core skill
Operators, chefs, consultants, landlords, expeditors, contractors and fabricators all need the same answer at the same time. We run that conversation.
- 07
The design is protected through delivery
Construction administration is not an add-on. We stay on site so substitutions, surprises and shortcuts are caught before they become permanent.
05 — How a project runs
Capabilities in detailFour stages, one team, from your side of the table.
- 01
Define the concept
Positioning, guest experience, visual language, feasibility and priorities.
Before anyone draws a wall, we agree on what the place is for: who it serves, how a night there should feel, what it needs to earn, and what it must never become. We test the idea against the site, the budget and the schedule so the concept we commit to is one that can be built.
- 02
Design the experience
Planning, interiors, lighting, materiality, furniture and custom elements.
This is where the concept becomes a room. We plan the floor around service and flow, then design the interiors, lighting, materials, furniture and the custom pieces that give a place its own vocabulary. You see it in drawings, samples and renderings before it exists.
- 03
Make it buildable
Documentation, consultant coordination, budgeting support and fabrication.
Unusual ideas need precise instructions. We produce the documentation that contractors and fabricators can price and build from, coordinate the engineers and consultants the project requires, and work the budget with you so the design survives value engineering intact.
- 04
Protect the vision
Construction administration, procurement, installation and opening support.
We stay on the job through construction. That means site visits, answering questions fast, reviewing shop drawings, sourcing and procuring FF&E, and being there for installation, so that what opens is what we designed together.
06 — Founder-led studio
About the studioTwo partners. Direct access. No hand-offs.
Partner
Gaines Solomon
Gaines holds a degree in Architecture with a focus on design-build interiors. He cut his teeth designing some of the best-ranked boutique hotels in New York City and has worked in hospitality since 2009.
Partner
Felipe Tejeda
A former resident of New York City, Berlin, London, Miami, Boston, São Paulo, Mexico City and San Francisco, Felipe was exposed to hospitality at a young age and carried that into his career. He holds a degree in Architecture.
You will work directly with Gaines and Felipe throughout. One brings a decade of boutique-hotel and design-build interiors; the other, hospitality and real-estate thinking across eight cities. Between them, the concept and the construction schedule are held by the same hands.
Meet the studioPlanning a new venue, a renovation or an expansion?
Tell us what you're opening.
A few sentences about the concept, the space and the timeline is enough to start. We read every inquiry ourselves and typically reply within two business days. If the project looks like a fit, we will suggest a short introductory call.