omewhat responsible for the current incarnation of local area nightspots, Irfan Bukhari is a frontiersman in design and workmanship, from dropping a Japanese theatre motif into Budo to choreographing the onyx-heavy interior of Nectar. It’s in this spirit that, after years of the eventual nightclub institutionalization of the area known as clubland - Bukhari has re-designed, re-vamped, and ultimately re-energized another trend-setter, Fluid.

When Fluid launched ten years ago, it was an instant success, with its high-design and a well thought-out promotional line-up. In some sense - with its go-go platforms and big puffy banquettes it was as flashy as Yabu & Pushelberg’s Stillife design that had been the previous tenant. Since then, big-budget visitors in town on the studios dime would pop into Fluid to be ushered off to the VIP section. But ten years is a long time, and the design that was copied by others -sometimes shamelessly - was over.

Not missing a beat, owners Moses Sabatino and Dean Holdip closed Fluid to‘re-create’ the bar. Not just touch up here and there, but overhaul the whole thing. Re-launching after a hectic two-month construction period, they clearly did just that. Bukhari’s new design is about how a designer pours all the reasons he wants to make a worthy club out of a former worthy club. There's an eager devotion to him that goes beyond design worship and that I would not have thought Bukhari capable of.

The new design shows a slightly warmer, more human edge to Fluid. This is especially evident in the first bar area; upon entry, you’ll instantly gaze up at the two thousand hanging glass tears suspended from the ceiling, giving that a translucent raining effect, adding movement to the room. There is a real appreciation of photography as Rico Bella’s stills are mounted, semi-opaque and backlit, from centre pillars throughout the same room.