A Latin-owned cocktail bar spices up a New England capital

Becky Carter‘s New York design studio is lauded for making customers feel at home with lived-in furnishings, layers and texture. She works this same magic at a new cocktail bar in Providence, Rhode Island, enveloping the hole-in-the-wall space in cosy dark wood.

Loma has the feel of a vintage Latin American bar, per the brief of its owner Leishla Maldonado, of Puerto Rican heritage, and her partners, Osman and Yefri Cortave, both from Guatemala.

‘When we started dreaming up Loma, we wanted a space that felt warm, intimate, and curated,’ Osman Cortave told us. ‘We wanted to move away from a commercial standard and design a space where everything feels intentional and where we could showcase spirits, our culture and facilitate hospitality. We imagined a space that would feel like you were transported to a private home bar where everyone was invited.’

For her part, Carter panelled the 40 sq m space in lacquered mahogany and lime-washed walls and added a painted coffered ceiling and terracotta tiles. She filled the perimeter with sinuous seating fabricated by the local woodworking studio Transom, whose contributions include a velvet banquette, bar stools and a mahogany partition with peek-a-boo cutouts separating the entrance from the bar.

The rest of the furniture and objects are vintage. A series of 1970s Italian cast-glass sconces sets the mood. They cast a moody amber light over the banquette and bar, where the owners keep an oversized ice cube for shaving into cocktails. Maldonado is a national cocktail competition winner and one of the only bartenders in this tiny state with the distinguished BAR-5 accreditation.

112 Spruce St, Federal Hill, Providence, RI