/ MANDURAH / WESTERN AUSTRALIA
would appeal to a younger demographic underserved by the local market.
A SENSE OF ARRIVAL
One of the striking design decisions was to place the stills at the front of the venue. “We wanted that sense of arrival, for customers to know that they were in a distillery,” says Bloor. What could have been an awkward space became a defining feature, drawing guests into the heart of the brand story before opening out to the relaxed, estuary- facing terrace and dining area. “People now want to sit and be around the stills, because that’s the essence of the venue,” says Bloor. Elsewhere, on-tap cocktails have
reinforced the brand’s vibrant, playful positioning, reducing labor costs while delivering speed of service and a point of difference. “Tey’re able to run leaner than a traditional distillery,” says Bloor. “And it suits the brand. People are coming in and getting something that’s a bit more exciting.”
SMART DESIGN
as it was about storytelling. “Trying to fit a gin distillery into something that’s long and narrow was quite interesting,” he recalls. “It needed to be a place that people would enjoy and talk about, helping to build the brand and spread the word about the gins, too.” Te client – experienced hospitality
operators but new to distilling – wanted to capitalize on Australia’s micro distilling trend. Te venue needed to combine production, tasting and dining, and be a “clean, fun, vibrant” environment that
Having so much back of house – the stills in particular – on show meant Bloor and the team had to “balance putting on show what we wanted to show, while being able to hide what we wanted to hide, like storage and wash down.” Fortunately, there was a vacant site upstairs, owned by the same landlord, which meant packaging and bottling could move from the ground floor. “We also reduced the kitchen to buy some more space for cool rooms and kegs of gin,” Bloor says. Te narrow nature of the space also put speed of service in the bar area front of mind. “We had to be efficient to avoid bottlenecking and creating areas where people are milling and breaking the flow of other customers,” says Bloor. “We brought the glass wash area to the narrowest point,
The distillery bar and the events venue are vibrant additions to Mandurah’s hospitality scene
so that became a service area of the bar.” A recce of the venue’s previous iteration as a restaurant revealed a crucial consideration. “You could see customers trying to move past staff waiting for drinks,” Bloor recalls. “We put a lot of thought into how to mitigate that, because when you’re inheriting a space you don’t have the luxury of moving a bar. Tat starts to blow out your costs.”
FROM DISTILLERY TO STUDIO
As Little Stiller grew in popularity, the opportunity arose to expand into the vacant upstairs space. Stiller Studio was designed as a flexible events venue. “Upstairs is a smaller space, so we focused on it being adaptable, through lighting and finishes – a blank canvas that’s warm,” Bloor explains. Te result is a 150-capacity venue that can host weddings, corporate events and DJ sets. A key technical challenge was routing
services within the constraints of the luxury apartments above, and the fact that the ceiling of the ground floor below had already been lifted. Te solution was innovative: “We lifted the floor in the bar by almost 300mm, which gave us enough space to run pythons and plumbing without interfering with the downstairs aesthetic. It also helped with acoustics,” says Bloor. Te raised bar improved staff visibility at busy events as well. Little Stiller has become a long-overdue
catalyst for Mandurah’s hospitality scene. “It’s really diversified the offering,” says Bloor. “We were one of the fastest-growing places in Australia in the 2000s. It exploded in residential growth, but commercial didn’t follow as quickly.” Mandurah has now won Australian tourism town of the year twice, and Little Stiller has already won more than 20 accolades for its gins and vodkas. “Every decision we made with this project was around ‘how do we deliver the brand?’” Bloor reflects. “How do we want the client to feel and act? Is it sustainable for the client? Is it adaptable? Having that awareness is so important.”
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