Whilst these spaces often mirror life outside its four walls, with interiors evolving to reflect the popular music and fashion of the time, it’s also important to note how these spaces directly influence the culture around it. From DJs producing music with a specific venue in mind, to punters matching their outfits to suit a venue’s distinctive aesthetic, nightclubs are a hub for subcultures to form and exist; the perfect meeting place for likeminded people. For their latest collections, Fred Perry also look to club culture and the bold interiors of British nightclubs. A zig-zag knit structure, used across crew neck tops and knitted shirts, has been inspired by a wallpaper pattern from a 1970s soul club, the bold lines reimagined in contemporary colours. Breathable for raving and built to stay neat long into the night.
We asked Professor Catherine Rossi, a key voice in the field of nightclub design, about the way in which nightclub interiors have evolved; ‘Nightlife design has always been eclectic, ranging from the styling of over-the-top luxury to the creation of fantastical playgrounds, or the ad hoc occupation of old factories, warehouses, and other ex-industrial spaces. This reflects the multi-faceted nature of nightlife itself, as it embraces different locations, music genres, and communities. It is the industrial though that has become the mainstay of club interiors, stripped back to embrace the aesthetics of sound and lighting equipment, and the visual language of pipes, ducts, and other building infrastructure. Nightlife has been at the forefront of such post-industrial design since the 1970s and 1980s onwards, just part of its broader creative influence more generally.’
There appears to be no surface left untouched by the public within a nightclub, and the toilets are no exception. Toilet graffiti has been described as ‘the purest form of self-expression’, and often takes the form of confessions, rumours, or offers of sexual advances complete with friends’ mobile numbers applied with a Sharpie. Instagram accounts like @toilettestimonials chronicle this nationwide phenomenon. Sometimes, nightclub interior design can be criminalised, as during the smoking ban in Britain on 1 July 2007, when the Health Act 2006 came into force. Makeshift smoking spaces blurred the lines between indoors and outdoors, challenging traditional definitions of space and what design elements legally constitute towards indoor environs.
In a world of oppressive club closures, and the loss of a third of Britain’s nightclubs since 2020, venues are embracing their agile superpower; the ability to makeshift and merge with the post-industrial environment, some running entirely on TENS (temporary events notices). This poses the ultimate question - where does the nightclub end and where does it begin?