The traditional noble department store, Harrods, located in the elegant London district of Knightsbridge on Brompton Road, is not only one of the largest but also one of the most exclusive department stores in the world. A special highlight for many of the well-heeled customers, but also for countless tourists to the metropolis, is the food department with its so-called "food halls", located on the ground floor and designed in Art Nouveau. For the newly designed Chocolate Hall, which opened at the beginning of May 2021, the architects of the David Collins Studio who specialise in the design of exclusive interiors, chose the noble LASA marble variety LASA VENATO VENA D'ORO® for the counter tops and refrigerated furniture.
The Chocolate Hall completes the final chapter of a meticulous four-year restoration of the "Food Halls" in the posh department store. Above all, the London architects of the David Collins Studio pay tribute to Harrods' legacy managed over generations in terms of chocolate with the recent restoration. In the archives of the noble department store, the sale of chocolate is documented as early as around 1870, and in 1897 the department store began producing its own chocolate. As in all the other halls, everything now looks much brighter. Despite the brand new look, the Chocolate Hall reflects the original Edwardian grandeur of the department. Meticulous processes were used to preserve the architecture, particularly the classic Harrods feel, including restoring the extensive tile work by hand and replacing tiles that could not be restored with handmade replicas. The finest and most beautiful materials from around the world were used to transform the hall into a temple of indulgence with an opulent ambience, as is natural for a luxury department store. This includes the beautiful LASA VENATO VENA D'ORO®, which was quarried in blocks from the White Water Quarry in the Lasa (Laas) Valley and refined into covering and cladding slabs for this project in the Lasa Marmo workshops in Lasa (Laas). Hardly any other type of marble, such as LASA VENATO VENA D'ORO®, with its warm white base tone and warm veining from yellow, gold to brown, could be better matched in colour to the fine art of chocolate production. Specifically, Lasa Marmo supplied six curved and eight straight cover panels in 2 cm and 4 cm thicknesses for the counters, as well as another 330 m² of raw panels in 1.2 cm thickness for various furniture coverings. The surfaces of all materials were polished. Under the counters and furniture, the confectionery is stored using the latest technology. Innovative refrigeration technology and one of the most exclusive and beautiful types of marble in the world now enrich one of the hallowed Food Halls of London's most famous department store as well as one of the world's largest luxury department stores. The shelves and counter tops made of refined Lasa marble set the stage for world brands such as Le Bonheur, Willam Curley, Pierre Marcolini, Läderach, Charbonnel et Walker, To'ak, Venchi and many others, alongside chocolates from Harrods.
