The Club @ Crafted
Where Surrealism Meets Spatial Mastery | Speakeasy Interior Design Denver
Unveil Award-Winning Speakeasy Interior Design Lodo | Visual Studio Plus
Award-Winning Surrealist Speakeasy & Restaurant | Clermont, FL | 2026 Coverings CID Award Winner
About
PROJECT DETAILS: The Club @ Crafted
Location: 801 W Montrose St, Clermont, Florida
Category: Hospitality |Restaurant & Lounge
Designer: Yumilka Soto, Visual Studio Plus
Client: Crafted Restaurant
Design Concept: "The Surrealist Cave"
Inspired by Salvador Dalí Accolades: Winner, 2026 Coverings CID Award for Commercial Ceramic Tile Design
DESIGN APPROACH:
A Surrealist Journey Through the Subconscious. The Club at Crafted is an immersive experience built on Santuario methodology, layering texture, light, scale, and material to transport guests into a dream-like dimension inspired by Salvador Dalí.
Architectural Artistry: Porcelain tiles and bespoke wallcoverings applied in non-traditional patterns distort perception and add architectural depth to walls that feel alive, not built.
Custom LED Atmosphere: Strategic LED technology was engineered to play with shadows and highlights throughout the lounge, creating mystery, movement, and a cinematic quality that shifts as guests move through the space.
Sensory Tectonics: Every surface was selected for its tactile and visual impact ensuring a multi-sensory experience that resonates on a human level, not just a visual one.
Revenue Engineering: While the forms appear beautifully wild, the spatial layout was strictly engineered for business maximizing revenue per square foot around a central, high-volume cocktail bar.
Award-Winning Result: The Club at Crafted earned the 2026 Coverings CID Award for Excellence in Finishing Materials & Technical Specification the only interior designer recognized among senior commercial contractors.
The Club at Crafted stands as a testament to bold imagination.
Starting with a radical ambition to defy the conventions of the Orlando landscape, the client demanded a venue free from the mundane. Answering this call, Yumilka Olivi Soto of Visual Studio Plus delved into a Dalí-inspired dreamscape. By abandoning linear boundaries, she crafted rhythmic, sculpted walls and immersive pockets of space that cocoon the senses.
The final product is a masterful architectural traverse through a subterranean Surrealist Cave—a hallmark speakeasy retreat positioned in the historic heart of Clermont, Florida.
Serving as the visionary force, Yumilka directed every artistic nuance and material detail, collaborating with elite architects and engineers to ensure this avant-garde concept became a technically sound, award-winning destination.
RESULT:
An Award-Winning Destination.
The Club at Crafted became one of the most talked-about hospitality spaces in the Orlando market, a space where the design itself became the attraction. Guests return for the feeling, not just the food.
This project earned Visual Studio Plus the 2026 Coverings CID Award and demonstrates the studio's core philosophy: great hospitality design doesn't decorate a room it authors an experience.
Yumilka Soto, Principal Designer of Visual Studio Plus (Denver, CO), brings this same award-winning approach to hospitality projects across Denver, RiNo, and the Front Range.
Ready to build something that wins awards and fills seats?
Our Design Process —
How The Club at Crafted Came to Life
1.
Discovery & Brand Immersion
The brief called for something unlike anything in the Orlando market a space that felt genuinely surreal. We immersed ourselves in the owners' vision, the Clermont market, and the works of Salvador Dalí to develop a concept rooted in oneiric (dream-like) storytelling.
2.
Concept Direction & Spatial Storytelling
Using the Santuario methodology, we mapped the full guest journey from street entry to the speakeasy reveal. Each zone was designed as a distinct chapter: arrival curiosity, discovery wonder, immersive depth. The "cave" concept emerged as the central architectural metaphor.
3.
Material Specification & Technical Design
Porcelain tiles and bespoke wallcoverings were specified in non-traditional patterns to distort perception and add architectural depth. Custom LED technology was engineered to play with shadows and highlights throughout the lounge, creating mystery and movement. Every surface was selected for tactile and visual impact.
4.
Execution & Principal Oversight
Yumilka provided principal-led oversight throughout construction, coordinating contractors, reviewing tile installations, and ensuring the surrealist vision translated precisely into the built reality. The project earned the 2026 Coverings Installation & Design (CID) Award for Excellence in Finishing Materials & Technical Specification.
Project Showcase
1.
Surrealist Cave Environment
Porcelain tiles and bespoke wallcoverings applied in non-traditional patterns distort perception and create a sense of architectural depth. The result is a space that feels carved from another dimension, not built from a blueprint.
2.
Custom LED & Shadow Artistry
Strategic LED technology was engineered to play with shadows and highlights throughout the lounge, creating a sense of mystery, movement, and cinematic atmosphere that shifts as guests move through the space.
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