Projects · Specialty
Specialty Projects: When the Brief Isn’t a Bar Top
Most of what we make is metal bar tops, tables and edges. But the calls we like best usually start with “this might not be your usual thing.” These three projects are the proof: a crown hung inside a dome, a set of brand carts for a cognac house, and brass tables set into solid oak. Each one needed someone to take a drawing, or just an idea, and make it real on schedule.
01 · Faena Miami Beach
Faena Miami Beach: A Suspended Crown for a Chess Showdown
The Brief
In July 2026, Faena Miami Beach hosted an international chess event. The event team, working through Plankton Studios, wanted a showpiece over the room: a giant crown, suspended in the venue’s dome. It started as a concept rendering.
The Challenge
A rendering doesn’t have to stand up, travel or hang. This piece had to do all three. It needed to hang from the dome overhead, sit right under the oculus, break down to fit in a truck, and go back together on site days before the first round.
Our Solution
We took the concept into Rhino and modeled the crown inside the dome itself, with its hang points laid out on the dome’s plan. That way the geometry and the rigging were solved before anything was built. In the shop we built the six-point crown around a circular truss ring, framed and skinned in matte black, then broke it into sections for the drive. On site it went back together on the floor and was lifted into the dome.
Faena
The Result
A crown hanging under the oculus, lit for the event.
02 · Rémy Martin
Rémy Martin: Custom Bar Carts
The Brief
Through Plankton Studios, Rémy Martin needed a set of matching bar carts with a strong, recognizable look.
The Challenge
One cart is a piece of furniture. A set of them is a production run. Every unit had to match, roll easily, hold bottles and ice, and arrive undamaged.
Our Solution
We built a full-size mock-up first, then drew every part in CAD so each cart’s parts were cut to the same layout. The carts have curved shells with a dark walnut-look exterior and a red interior, large wheels with brass-toned covers, brass rails across the open shelves, a mirrored back, and a perforated brass panel with twin ice wells on top. The Rémy Martin name and centaur appear on brass plaques. Each cart shipped in its own custom crate.
Rémy Martin
The Result
A matched set of brand carts, finished and crated to ship.
03 · West Village, New York
Sip & Guzzle, West Village, New York: Brass Set Into Solid Oak
The Brief
Sip & Guzzle, at 29 Cornelia Street in New York’s West Village, wanted brass-topped tables. They also needed those tables to belong in a room that already has plenty of wood trim.
The Challenge
A plain brass table would have fought the room. These tables had to read as brass and look like they’d always been part of the room.
Our Solution
We started from solid oak rounds and cut a recess into each one on the CNC to take a brass top. The oak stays visible as a rim around the brass. Then we gave the oak a profiled edge, finished dark to pick up the room’s existing trim. It’s specialty work. Real oak furniture isn’t our usual product, but it was the right answer for this room.
Sip & Guzzle
The Result
Brass tables with oak edges, made for the room. Brass is a living metal, so the tops will keep warming and darkening where hands and glasses touch them.
Project Details
Faena crown
- Client: An international chess event
- Through: Plankton Studios
- Location: Faena Miami Beach
- Scope: Suspended six-point crown: CAD, build, ship in sections, on-site assembly
- Materials: Truss ring, rib frame, matte-black skin
- Completed: July 2026
Rémy Martin carts
- Client: Rémy Martin
- Through: Plankton Studios
- Scope: Matching set of bar carts, crated for shipping
- Materials: Walnut-look shell, red interior, brass details, ice wells
Sip & Guzzle tables
- Client: Sip & Guzzle
- Location: 29 Cornelia St, New York, NY
- Scope: Brass-topped round tables in solid oak
- Materials: Brass, solid oak, profiled oak edge
Credits
- Faena crown: an international chess event; through Plankton Studios; fabrication 3 Spark Design
- Carts: Rémy Martin; through Plankton Studios; fabrication 3 Spark Design
- Tables: Sip & Guzzle; fabrication 3 Spark Design
Questions
Does 3 Spark Design take on projects other than bar tops?
Yes. Examples include a suspended crown at Faena Miami Beach, brand carts for Remy Martin, and brass-topped tables in solid oak for Sip & Guzzle.
What do you need to start a one-off project?
A drawing, a rendering, or even a napkin sketch, plus the date it has to be ready.
Have a One-Off Idea?
If it’s custom, has to be right, and has to be ready by a certain date, we’d like to see it. Send us the drawing, the rendering, or the napkin sketch.