Frontline Design - Modern Line Furniture

Frontline Design
Modular Furniture for the Modern Nightclub
CREATING SPACE I Spring 2012

Furnished Ideas
Modular Miracles
and Modern Design
As the Editor of Bar Business
Magazine, I may be the boss when it
comes to the content that hits our
pages each issue. But really, there’s only
one Boss, and you can find him just
below me on this page, lounging like a
rock star on one of Modern Line
Furniture's featured collections. When
your product is worthy of Springsteen,
you know you’ve done good.
This image of The Boss, courtesy of
a bar owner in Bruce’s hometown of
Asbury Park, New Jersey, is quite
fitting. Springsteen has always been a
champion of the American hometown
hero, especially those who come from
BY Chris Ytuarte
Editor-in-Chief
Bar Business Magazine
his Garden State, who fight their way
off of dead-end streets to make
something of themselves. And here he
sits, on a modular sectional from
Modern Line Furniture, a company with
its roots deep in New Jersey, but its
influence spreading throughout the
nation.
I travel the country to keep in touch
with what is going on in this industry.
As the only print publication
that truly covers all aspects of
the nightlife profession—from
spirits to security, design to
décor, management to money
matters, technology to
training—we watch it all.
Of course, one of the most
important topics we cover in
nearly every issue of Bar
Business falls under the umbrella
of design and décor: lighting,
layout, ergonomics,
functionality, flow, and of
course, furnishings. Beyond the
Boss, the fact is, your furniture
is a vital component to creating
the best possible club
environment for success. And
the miracle of modular
furniture is that it can help you
do just that, at an economical
advantage in comparison to
custom builds.
With this publication, we
examine the aspects that make
great modular furnishings
work: aesthetics, comfort,
versatility, and efficiency. Each
component can be fulfilled by
the products and the team at Modern
Line Furniture. You can create a truly
dynamic environment with the
furniture and the fantastic people
available at Modern Line.
But don’t just take my word for it.
Frontline Design
Spring 2012
Published by Modern Line Furniture
1296 Lawrence Street
Rahway, NJ 07065
Phone: (800) 637-5596
Fax: (732) 381-1716
Sales Department:
sales @modernlinefurniture.com
Design Department:
design@moderlinefurniture.com
General Information:
info@modernlinefurniture.com
CEO, Vlad Spivak:
vlad@mmodernlinefurniture.com
MODERN LINE SHOWROOMS:
NEW JERSEY DESIGN CENTER
Mon - Sat, 10am - 5pm EST
1296 Lawrence Street
Rahway, NJ 07065
FLORIDA
Trade Only Showroom
Dania Beach, Florida
(800) 637-5596
NEVADA
Trade Only Showroom
Las Vegas, Nevada
(800) 637-5596
PUERTO RICO
Trade Only Showroom
San Juan, Puerto Rico
(800) 637-5596
editorial
Chris Ytuarte
Editor-in-Chief, Bar Business Magazine
212-620-7223; fax: 212-633-1863
cytuarte@sbpub.com
Sara Kay
Assistant Editor, Bar Business Magazine
212-620-7220; fax: 212-633-1863
skay@sbpub.com
art
Corporate Art Director
Wendy Williams
wwilliams@sbpub.com
production
Corporate Production Director
Mary Conyers
mconyers@sbpub.com
ON THE COVER:
Opera Ultra Lounge, Winnipeg, Canada
Model 9049 featured
www.modernlinefurniture.com
Spring 2012 | Frontline Design 3

CONTENTS
SPRING
2012
Frontline Design
6
The Art
of Aesthetic
The look of your club makes a quick
first impression, so be sure to furnish
for the ambience you want to create.
8
Finding the
comfort zone
Furniture has to look good and
function well; providing maximum
comfort for customers is a key factor.
10
Redesign,
not replace
Modular furniture can
help bar owners recreate
their space without the
expense of replacing every
item on the floor.
12 14
Are you in
The
or out?
Top FIVE
Maintaining a similar
We look at the Top Five
vibe between indoor
hottest trends in
and outdoor space can
on-premise furnishing
be a smooth transition
with Modern Line
with modular products.
designer Josh Lucas.
4 Frontline Design | Spring 2012 www.modernlinefurniture.com

ART OF AESTHETICS:
Using Modular
Furniture
to Create a Mood
No Furniture, No Feel
Even if you’re serving drinks, an empty room
does not make a club; then again, neither does
unattractive furniture. Remember to aim for an
aesthetic and then furnish accordingly.
By Chris Ytuarte
Your bar is who you are. Customers who come through the door
are immediately exposed to your attitude toward nightlife, and they will
make a decision about your environment within minutes of experiencing
the ambience. Unfortunately, this judgment comes before they ever taste a
drink, ever meet a server, or ever hit the dance floor. They will base this first
impression on one thing: what does your furnishing look like.
www.modernlinefurniture.com
Spring 2012 | | VIP Frontline Moderne Magazine Design 5

Your furniture, separate from your wall art, paint
scheme, lighting, etc., truly dictates the mood,
ambience, and experience that customers will
consciously and subconsciously walk away with, and
that will guide their actions while on-premise.
“Your furniture helps create a mood because it
looks great, and then customers respect it,” says Jack
Moslehi, owner of Opera Ultra Lounge in Winnipeg,
Canada.
“It’s not like walking into some dive where you just
see garbage furnishings and right away you know
how you’re going to act in that venue. You’re going
to act like garbage because you’re surrounded by
garbage furnishings. Whereas with Modern Line,
the furnishings have this kind of posh feel and look
to them. So when you walk in and sit on them you
kind of feel posh, and you act the part.” Moslehi
acknowledges that Modern Line Furniture has
truly enabled him to create an ambience at Opera
that he was seeking, and that differentiates him
from his competition. Describing the venue as “half
“After my first experience
with them, I’m taking Modern
Line Furniture product and
putting it in a second venue
that I’m opening.”
Platform Lounge,
Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel Scranton, PA.
Model Tiara Banquet & Model Chica
nightclub, half lounge,” the venue is whitewashed, with a regal,
classic approach to it’s furnished aesthetic. A capacity crowd
of 388 max enjoys massive chandeliers, dramatic lighting, and
a old-world charm. “Mix that in with some contemporary
furnishings, which is where Modern Line comes in, and you
have a dynamic look,” says Moslehi. “Modern Line definitely
added the contemporary element with their furnishings.”
The blended aesthetic of Opera is a vital element in its
successful attempt to attract and entertain a clientele of
mixed ages and interests. With patrons ranging from 18 to 45
years of age (remember, the Canadian drinking age is 18),
Moslehi incorporates various genres of music on their three
nights of business to keep the crowds happy: 80s and 90s on
Friday nights, Top 40 on Saturdays, and hip-hop and Latin on
Sundays. With such an eclectic customer base, the aesthetic
and ambience need to be somewhat universal, and Modern
Line Furniture has helped the club balance its approach to
maintaining a contemporary look with the over-the-top décor.
“We opened Opera in December, and we’re expanding to add
more furnishings inside, and we’re taking the club element out
to make it a total lounge,” says Moslehi. “So that will be phase
two. Phase three is they’re laying out another club I have that
has actually been running for three years, but there are two
areas that are being expanded. And those two areas are where
Modern Line is going to come in and work their magic.”
6 Frontline Design | Spring 2012 www.modernlinefurniture.com

EVE Ultra Lounge, Staten Island, NY.
Model 9050 featured.
Without appealing, engaging
furniture, you’re leaving a
customer’s first impression up
to interpretation based on other
aspects less in your control.
Back in the U.S., in the Garden State of New Jersey, Mark
Jakuboski owns a unique venue known as Baca Sports
Lounge, which Jakuboski himself describes as, “basically a
sports bar built for women.” Now how does one design an
aesthetic for that?
“It’s sexy, it’s sleek, it’s got TV’s and fireplaces, and it’s got
all Modern Line Furniture,” explains Jakuboski. “It’s kind of
industrial, and has some brick designs, concrete and hardwood
floors. It’s a place that women feel very comfortable going to,
and the men follow. Most women don’t like going to a sports
bar, but guys love to go. So we’ve created a place that’s kind of
sleek and sexy, very cool. The guys come and watch the games
and they can get any kind of bar food they want, and the
women love it there because the atmosphere is great.”
Jakuboski has successfully created an aesthetic for both the
avid sports fan and the women who love them, and love sports.
Not an easy accomplishment. And he did so by melding the
ambience of a modern lounge or club with the ruggedness and
social component of a great sports bar—best of both worlds.
Vital to this approach was furniture that met both visions with
one style of design, from Modern Line Furniture.
“Using their furniture, we’ve created a lot of little areas and
nooks within the bar itself, by using different pieces,” says
Jakuboski. “The highback chairs we’ll put face-to-face with a
serving ottoman between them along the windows, creating
a little private area. In a corner we’ll take three of the lounge
chairs and make some space. And in the center of the room
near the bar we’ll take their curved, round chairs and some
tables and set up little four-tops, in diamond patterns, and
have maybe six of those sets.
“Then we created what we call “The Pit” using some of the
curvy furniture. We have a projection screen TV, and we take
the curvy furniture and create a nice big oval shaped seating
section around the screen, and it fits probably about 20
people. And we put one of their coffee tables with the pull-out
ottomans in the middle so they can pull them out and relax.”
Appealing to both the men who gather in groups to watch
the big game, and the women who seek a sleek aesthetic, the
furniture at Baca Sports Lounge creates an ambience that
allows for two very different crowds to successfully mingle on
gameday, and any other night, especially considering the locale
and the local competition.
“This furniture and the mood it creates is what makes us
different here,” says Jakuboski. “We’re in Asbury Park, which is
full of bars, and we’re the only bar of this kind down here.
Without versatile, appealing, and optically engaging furniture,
you’re leaving that first impression up to interpretation
and based on other aspects that may be more out of your
control. Modern Line Furniture is ready to help you make
that aesthetic experience something customers will be talking
about.
“I get feedback all the time from customers about the
furniture,” says Moslehi. “This is why I’m getting so deep in
with Modern Line. They’re awesome.” FL
www.modernlinefurniture.com
Spring 2012 | Frontline Design 7

COMFORT ZONE:
The Importance of Making Customers Comfortable
Which One Would You Pick?
Beyond aesthetics and ambience, furniture at its core has to be functional, and by that we mean
proper support and comfort for your customers, and even your employees. We look at ways to
achieve both on-premise.
By Frances Pisano, MS OSHE
CEO and Chief Ergonomist at Pisano & Associates, LLC
In many parts of the world, the corner tavern, bar, taproom,
saloon, pub or nightclub is the place to be on a Friday
night. The work week has come to a close and it’s time to
catch-up with friends, hoist a few, have some fun.
When bellying up to the bar to order that next round, or
settling into a highback chair at a local lounge, take a look at
the design and layout of the space. Bar design is iconic and
time-tested. Centuries of learning have gone into the placement
of pub elements, and at the center of the design rationale is the
comfort of the patron not the employee.
Ergonomics is the science of designing an environment to
address and fit human needs; while it is more often applied in a
work environment (ergo means work in Latin), in the case of a
bar environment, obviously the comfort of the patron has taken
precedence over the safety and comfort of the employee.
“Our customers are so comfortable, they feel like they’re in
their own living room—just with 300 people around you,” says
Mark Jakuboski, owner of Baca Sports Lounge in Asbury Park,
New Jersey. “And yet you don’t feel crowded. When you sit in
Modern Line Furniture’s modular products, you create these
little spaces, even if it’s in the center of the room, and you still
feel like you have your own space within a space. It creates just
the right amount of privacy. It’s kind of like you own that space
for an hour or two, yet you have the people flowing around you
nicely. If you took the Modern Line furniture out and threw a
bunch of random tables and chairs in there, it wouldn’t be the
same place at all. The furniture makes it.”
For example, why do you think that the height of the bar is 42
inches? That height is the most ergonomic for a top that services
both the seated and standing user. Seated in a 29″ to 31″
barstool, a 42″ bar counter is the best height for the seated bar
patron. It is also a comfortable height for most people to lean
against. Additionally the bar top is in easy reach of a standing
person so they can set their food and drink down without
leaning over. Take a look at the footrest at the base of the bar.
Not just a decorative element, this footrest permits the standing
patron to alter their stance and posture from time to time while
standing at the bar for long periods of time. An old Ergonomics
adage “the best position, is the NEXT position”; this footrest
provides standing customers with a multitude of options over
time. This means you can STAY and imbibe longer, more
comfortably. Really has nothing to do with the employee.
8 Frontline Design | Spring 2012 www.modernlinefurniture.com

“Customers have to be comfortable,” says Jack Moslehi, owner
of Opera Ultra Lounge in Winnipeg, Canada. “Modern Line
furniture is well made and it looks great, but it’s also cool that
you can use the modular furniture to cater to any crowd and
space that you want to attract. Prior to working with Modern
Line, we always used custom stuff, but with these guys I just
basically sent them my idea and gave them a floor map, and
Josh [Lucas] at Modern Line—he is just a genius. He took my
floor space and the notion of what I was looking for and he laid
out this amazing plan on a CAD program. And they gave me
options for the flow and for what pieces to use, and it worked
out great. They 100% take into account what type of flow you
want for your customers.”
On the other hand, I am sure that you all have had the
experience of sitting at a bar where the molding on the edge is
so wide and bulky that you practically have to stand up on the
rungs of the stool to reach your plate. Another uncomfortable
piece of furniture can be the bar stool. I am 5’7” tall and
was sitting on a bar stool just last week where my feet could
not reach the cross bar on the stool so as my feet dangled
uncomfortably the backs of my legs became numb from the
pressure of the sharp edge of the stool’s seat. I then stood up to
alleviate this discomfort and when I attempted to put my foot
on the footrest (the bar that typically runs along the base of the
bar near the floor) there wasn’t one. The possibility for me to
find comfort suddenly became out of the question. So, although
the comfort of the patron is considered more often than the
comfort of the employee, one can see that there remains much
room for improvement.
“The great thing about Modern Line is that they’ll set up your
floorplan layout, and if you look at it and bring people in and
at first it’s just not working, you can reconfigure it to maximize
comfort,” says Jakuboski. “Because everything looks really great
on paper, but our place is kind of small—about 2,500 square
feet—and when you put 300 people in there along with your
furniture, it may take on a new life. This piece may not work
there, and that piece may not work here. But you can very easily
take all of the pieces and shuffle them
into something that does work. You can
take a centerpiece that was designed to be
12 feet long, pull one section out, and use
it as a nine-foot centerpiece. Then you
take that three-foot section you removed
and place it somewhere else. That’s one
of the best parts about this furniture.”
Here are some of the tasks that lead to these disorders:
• chopping food while slouched over
• washing glasses while bending
• extreme and repetitive reaching overhead for bottles
• extreme and repetitive reaching and bending when serving the
customer across the bar
• hoisting heavy loads on trays
• repetitive opening of twist cap bottles and the manual removal
of wine corks
• repetitive bending to access bottles and ice in coolers
• standing on hard services for long hours resulting in lower
back strain
“Our customers are so comfortable,
they feel like they’re in their own
living room, with 300 people.”
Despite these health hazards, 90% of workers do not have
health insurance, meaning many decide against treating such
injuries. The lack of reporting of these injuries leads to more
serious and chronic conditions, less job satisfaction, higher
absenteeism, poor customer service, and higher medical costs
in the long run. The bottom line is that both sides of the bar
need established design criteria that take human capabilities
and limitations into consideration. There is no question many
improvements can be made with regards to the comfort and
safety of BOTH the employee and the patron.
Frances Pisano, MS OSHE is CEO and chief ergonomist at Pisano
& Associates, LLC, an occupational safety and health consulting
firm headquartered in Pawtucket, R.I. Combining experience,
technical expertise and comprehensive capabilities, Pisano &
Associates collaborates with clients to help them rationalize their
approach to ergonomics through workplace risk assessment, re-design
and implementation. For more information, Frances can be reached
at fpisano@pisanoassociates.com or by phone at 401-529-8398.
BLOG @ http://ergonomicedge.wordpress.com.
As for the employee, industry specific
injury and illness statistics are proof of
the risk factors that they are exposed
to. Employee risk factors in the bar
environment are numerous, and
these risk factors that may lead to
musculoskeletal disorders of the neck,
shoulders, back, forearms/elbows,
wrists, knees and feet, are widespread
and are all driven by a poorly designed
work environments and tools.
www.modernlinefurniture.com
Baca Sports Lounge, Asbury Park, NJ.
Model Coco featured.
Spring 2012 | Frontline Design 9

REDESIGN WITHOUT
REPLACING:
Interchangeable Furniture
Can Keep Costs Down
During a Redesign
Platform Lounge,
Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel Scranton, PA.
Model Tiara Banquet featured.
Furniture That Fits
Like puzzle pieces that can be shuffled
around to create an entirely new final
image, great modular furniture offers
club owners not only initial aesthetic
and comfort, but options for redesigning
their venue daily, monthly, or annually,
at a fraction of the cost. Win-win.
By Sara Kay
Most clubs won’t go through a redesign until it
becomes a last resort. If business is flagging, the competition
is gaining, and the new guy around the corner has become
the “it” spot, an owner may finally concede that a change of
scenery has become necessary. Often, the expense of such an
overhaul may not be worth the investment, as the price tag for
all new furniture can be daunting.
Likewise, many venues on a daily work weekly basis find the
need to reconfigure their furniture’s layout in order to best
accommodate the clientele. Large groups one night needing
communal seating; a run on couples coming in for date night
who want their private nook; stragglers who show up as addons
to parties of either size—the ability to shuffle the deck can
afford a smart club owner the chance to service a wider swath
of social gatherings, and increase business.
So how can both examples above—one a large-scale redesign
that occurs every few years, the other a quick reconfiguration
required every other night— be satisfied by a singular approach
to furnishings? Modular components from Modern Line
Furniture, of course.
“This is my first go-around with Modern Line, and I just
opened the club up in December, so we haven’t needed to
reshuffle the layout just yet,” says Jack Moslehi, owner of Opera
Ultra Lounge in Winnipeg, Canada. “But there is 100% truth
to the notion that we could change the entire scope of the place
just by moving our existing pieces around. The fact is, this
furniture is modular, so it can fit into the tightest spaces or fill
the biggest area you have.”
Being a newbie on the Winnipeg nightlife scene does not
exempt Opera from having to expect a necessary change at
some point in the future, and likely a major revamping of the
design and décor in order to stay fresh. And Moslehi, for one,
looks forward to avoiding the usual reason club owners feel
faint when facing a redesign: the cost.
“Having Modern Line’s modular products heavily affects not
only our bottom line for the cost of a redesign, but also our
willingness to even undertake such a thing,” says Moslehi.
“When you’re furnishing any space of that magnitude and
trying to facilitate that many people, it usually means going
the old way and buying new custom stuff. You’re basically
starting back at scratch. You’re taking on a $50,000 furniture
bill. Whereas with Modern Line’s modular stuff, you may buy a
few new minor pieces, but really you’re just moving the puzzle
pieces around.”
10 Frontline Design | Spring 2012 www.modernlinefurniture.com

Short of reshaping an entire venue, some club owners
undoubtedly need to reshape their seating to accommodate
their customers, who show up in all shapes and sizes, and in
varying numbers. At Baca Sports Lounge in Asbury Park,
New Jersey, owner Mark Jakuboski welcomes fans in to watch
the big games, with wives in tow, and sometimes sends the
furniture into a swinging dance, moving pieces of his modular
furnishings from Modern Line Furniture anywhere its
needs, in any form.
“We shift the furniture around all the time,”
says Jakuboski. “It has a basic pattern, but we
move it around and reconfigure it all the
time. For example, for the recent Giants
playoff games and the Super Bowl, which
drew big crowds, we moved stuff around and
created little spaces for groups to come in. The
thing I like about Modern Line, it’s very easy to just
move it yourself, even on the fly. If you have a group
in and a few stragglers join them later, you can just shove
an ottoman over or take a piece and sliding it over. It’s all
interchangeable and easy to work with. Even if we have to add
more pieces to “The Pit” in front of the projection TV, it’s not a
big deal. Grab a piece and move it in, and you can make a new
configuration within minutes.
Carmen’s Wine Bar,
Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel
Scranton, PA.
Model Coco and Model ST002 Chair featured.
“Modular furniture offers motivation to make
changes to your venue. If you know you won’t
be up against a huge furniture bill to buy all
new product, you’re more likely to give it a try.”
“You can take everything out, put it back in, and get a whole
different look. And it didn’t cost you anything. We have ‘The
Pit,’ and ‘The Triangle,’ and we can take The Pit furniture
and move it down to The Triangle and not miss a beat,
and vice versa. You end up with a whole different feel
and atmosphere. We use a lot of Modern Line’s
tables and ottomans, and just by moving them
around and interchanging different pieces
give you a whole different feel.”
While Jakuboski is shifting his furniture on a daily
basis, he only recently opened Baca Sports Lounge,
and has not felt the need for a large-scale overhaul of the
layout. But that not to say, if and when the time comes, he
won’t be encouraged to do so by the ease of interchange he’s
already experience with the Modern Line products.
“We haven’t changed it up yet on whole, since we just opened,”
says Jakuboksi. “We haven’t needed to go for a totally new
feel yet. But we change it
up a lot for events and for
different things going on,
and our space is working the
way it is now. But summer
time is coming, and we are
almost entirely windows on
the exterior, with huge glass
doors that open up. So we
open those up in the summer,
because we’re on the shore,
and changing the furniture
around is one of the things
we’re going to have to do
when the flow of the room
changes with the season.
People will be flowing inside
and outside, so the furniture
will have to allow for that.” FL
The miracle of modular
furniture continues, both
inside and out…
www.modernlinefurniture.com
Spring 2012 | Frontline Design 11

ARE YOU IN OR OUT?
Finding Furniture for Both
Indoor and Outdoor Use
The In’s and Out’s
of Modular Furniture
By Chris Ytuarte
Adding to the mythology of modular furnishings is its
ability to enhance a venue both indoors and outdoors, with
similar success. While not every nightclub has both kinds
of environments, those that do face a challenge in finding
furniture that can maintain a common aesthetic throughout,
keep customers comfortable, and allow for reconfiguration
based on nightly needs. The outdoor elements present their
own problems in this scenario, but Modern Line Furniture
customers can rest at ease—help is on the way.
In Asbury Park, New Jersey, drinking outdoors is considered
a national pastime. Before it became a realty TV punchline,
the Jersey Shore was long known as a haven for summer time
nightlife on the east coast. As such, Baca Sports Lounge owner
Mark Jakuboski knows fully well his Asbury location alone
denotes a need for outdoor entertaining. And he knows just
where to turn to furnish the first summer of his fledgling venue.
“We’re going to use Modern Line stuff outdoors as well,” says
Jakuboski, who’s sports lounge already sports Modern Line
Furniture product throughout its interior. “It’s going to be
essential to making the outside flow into the inside, and vice
versa. We’ll have the same lines and sleekness to it, but just
different textures and colors.
“We bought Modern Line’s wicker furniture for outside,
in mostly wavy patterns to keep things sleek, and we’ll also
use a lot of their outdoor tables. We’re in a city with 15-foot
sidewalks, so we’ll be creating space with the furniture. It will
be essential to creating a lounge space outside. We haven’t done
it yet, because we opened in October, but the spring is going
to be very interesting when we start setting it up and getting it
going.”
Even up in the brisk air of Canada, club-goers needs an
outdoor space in the summer, when the temperatures are mild
and patrons who have been hibernating all winter want to be
in the open air. Jack Moslehi, owner of Opera Ultra Lounge
in Winnipeg, Canada, has the interior of his club packed with
Modern Line Furniture, and is expanding his newly opened
venue to include outdoor space for the warmer seasons.
“We opened Opera, and we’re expanding to add more
furnishings inside, and we’re taking the club element out to
make it a total lounge,” says Moslehi. “After that, phase four
would be the patio.”
The patio, says Moslehi, will incorporate Modern Line’s
modular furniture in a similar way it was utilized inside. “There
really isn’t much of a difference when approaching an indoor
12 Frontline Design | Spring 2012 www.modernlinefurniture.com

or outdoor installation. The only thing that changes is whether
the furniture can put up with the elements. The great thing, the
quality and aesthetic doesn’t have to lessen when you’re using
Modern Line’s outdoor furniture.”
As with the indoor applications, club owners find themselves
with the comfort of relying upon Modern Line Furniture’s
team of designers to help them create the best possible space,
outdoors as well.
“With any of their stuff, I would say before I do anything or
make any move I call over the folk at Modern Line, and explain
what I want, and they give me all my options,” says Moslehi.
“And I love their Web site, because it gives you all these options
but it’s clear and it’s clean and if you want to go with this look,
check this out, if you want to go with this look, view here.
Everything is clear and smooth. Other furniture Web sites are
limited by what they offer. If you don’t like a certain style,
there’s nothing for you. But Modern Line has a little bit of
everything—for a guy like me, anyway.”
Back in New Jersey, Jakuboski agrees. “Modern Line has
already helped us design the outdoor layout according to the
footprint; it’s just a matter of setting it up,” he says.
Under the year-round sunny sky of Universal City, California,
Samba Brazilian Steakhouse Lounge maintains its outdoor
seating with some of Modern Line Furniture’s best modular
components. “The quality of the product is only matched
by the quality of the service you receive from those guys on
anything they help you create,” says George Moussalli, CEO
of the Samba Group. “From day one, if something didn’t turn
out right, they fixed it; if something didn’t fit right, they made it
fit; they even replaced some cushions for us at no charge at one
point.”
Moussalli’s experience with Modern Line carries over to
his customers’ experience with the furnishings in his venue,
and just this past month, Samba reconfigured the modular
components for an entirely new look. “Couldn’t have been
easier,” says Moussalli.
“When we open up those windows and
doors in the summer, changing the
furniture around is one of the things
we’re going to have to do when the flow
of the room changes with the season.”
So whether you’re in or you’re out—or maybe both—keep an
eye on the line of furnishings from Modern Line Furniture. The
use of modular products, both indoors and outdoors, can keep
your venue looking contemporary, even with the sun beating
down and salty sea air settling in. And if the elements do take
their toll, the cost of a redesign is minimal. FL
Again, win-win.
Samba Brazilian Steakhouse Lounge,
Universal CityWalk, Hollywood, CA.
Model S20 Outdoor Collection featured.
www.modernlinefurniture.com
Spring 2012 | Frontline Design 13

Top 5
On-premise
Furnishing Trends
By Josh Lucas, Senior Designer, Modern Line Furniture
1) Tufting vs. smooth characteristics of furniture
The characteristics of your furniture should parallel the theme of
your club. If your bar or nightclub is ultra modern, with smooth
high gloss hard surface finishes and clean lines, then furniture
with smooth leather upholstery, subtle, yet defined curves and
elements of steel (in the footings of the modular components)
are great ways to emphasize and make the furniture a part of the
overall design. Yet, should you have detailed millwork, a custom
bar with decorative inlays and subway-style tile floors matched
with deep, richly textured painted walls, then tufting may be the
characteristic to draw into your furniture selection. Many bar
owners think of furniture as the after-thought, the last ticket item
needed to make the place operational; when, in reality, furniture
can sometimes be the most important
characteristic of a space. Paying attention
to small details, such as a black tufted back
on a white or brown seat base, can instantly
bring the necessary style and appeal that
makes beer taste that much better.
2) Product heights (creating intimacy
in open spaces)
Utilizing varying heights of furniture,
specifically the height of the seating back
panels, defines areas and demonstrates
hierarchy in the infamous VIP nightclub
social classes. It has become somewhat of
a game-changer when differentiating bottle
service furniture arrangements for the ultra
plush, VIP groupings. The higher the back,
the more intimate your seating becomes.
And that works best in open warehouselike
spaces with 18-foot ceilings. Tall-back
modular furniture provides nightclub owners an easy way to make
use of the vertical square footage without breaking the bank to
put in a second floor. Similarly, for narrow rooms that have little
lighting or singular entry ways, furniture with a low back helps to
create the illusion of higher ceilings and more space.
3) Fast-tracking design with pre-packaged
configurations
Everyone has deadlines, and in the nightclub and bar industry,
especially when it’s a specific holiday, calendar event or private,
fully booked party, pre-packaged, pre-designed modular
furniture configurations are the best way to make sure you get
the seating you need within the time frame you need it. The best
part of working with pre-packaged furniture configurations is
that nine times out of ten times, they are modular components
consisting of no-more than four pieces. Which means, after the
holiday drinking has commenced or the private party clears out
for the night, you can easily reposition the furniture to form a
completely different seating arrangement with a totally new feel.
Fast-tracking the design of your nightclub or bar doesn’t mean
you have to have it in one pre-packaged set-up for two or three
years when specifying modular furniture. It means you are fasttracking
your options based on your space.
4) AutoCAD drawings and the importance of knowing
your space—in theory and in scale
Maximizing your square footage means maximizing your seat
count, which in turn represents a higher gross profit average
for the bar at the end of the night. So why waste your time on
guessing what will fit when resourcing design services such as
AutoCAD drawings and furniture floor
plan specifications (a service Modern Line
extends to all of their nightclub and bar
owners) is the easiest way for you to ensure
all your marketing dollars are coming back
two-fold. We all like to think our spaces are
the biggest and best, but in reality, sometimes
the furniture we want to have fit, and what
actually will fit, can be very different. By
measuring your space ahead of time and
working with a specialist in the field of space
planning, AutoCAD floor plan design, and
furniture product knowledge, you can avoid
the headache and guessing game and be
assured the product (or at least the style of
the product) you want for your new space
will be the perfect fit.
5) Staying ahead of the curve: Why
more bars are breaking free from the
square shape formula of design
It all comes down to linear elements—how many of and what
model can you fit in a dedicated square or rectangular shaped
space. But sometimes the straight lines and 90-degree corners
of furniture can limit the maximum seating capacity in a given
area. Recently, bars have been warming to the theory the
modular can also mean curvy. This new approach to the longresourced
square shape formula has brought innovation and, at
times, doubled the seating to the designated areas. Products like
Modern Line Furniture’s indoor Coco or Luna collection, as
well as their outdoor La Jolla and S68 models, can certainly be a
frame of reference for this new trend. Both can be configured to
make the standard U-shape or L-shape sectional arrangement;
but they can also be pushed back-to-back, in multiple directions,
with inverted and outward facing curved seating components, to
open up a whole new world of conversational groupings while
upping the max seat count. Additionally, it creates interest in the
14 Frontline Design | Spring 2012 www.modernlinefurniture.com