Iron Fairies

• BarCocktail BarRetail
• BangkokHong KongTokyo

“You’d be underground for so long, you’d just about lose your mind. I started thinking about fairies. Then I started doing some sketches.”

The Iron Fairies is a Ashley Sutton owned franchise brand for bar and merchandise retail. Currently there are branches in Bangkok, Tokyo and the latest being set up in Hong Kong 2016. Previously there have been branches in New York and Perth which have been closed meanwhile. The Iron Fairies bars are inspired by the same name children fairytale book (The Iron Fairies Vol.1 – Vol. 3) which are written by Ashley Sutton himself. Both the fairytale book and the bar in Bangkok have their own story to tell and marks the beginning of Ashley Sutton’s design and food and beverage concepts.

The fairytale book originate from Ashley’s days underground in Western Australia’s mines. Deep in the iron-ore mine in order to battle the boredom of his bleak working environment Ashley started to dream up and draw the story of a group of miners forge iron fairies who come to life only when exposed to the morning sun rays, but are destined to turn to rust unless protected by the magic fairy dust. His drawings were discovered by a production manager who encourage him to publish it as a book.

The Iron Fairies Bangkok

Later on a trip to Thailand for sourcing and producing merchandise he created a workshop with design and features of his fantasy in order to inspire the workers to understand the concept. It attracted many visitors who started to request food and drinks. After a temporary solution by stocking up at 7/11 he decided to put a kitchen and bar in the workshop which became his first signature design.

The décor takes its cues from a fantasy where ore miners stumble upon little winged spirits, mixing roughly hewn wood, massive rusty cogs, rickety piping, and walls lined with vials of fairy dust. The mezzanine at the front stretches all the way to the top of the building, creating a tall, narrow space containing a seemingly inaccessible platform with a single table. The rest of the building is split into two relatively roomy levels.

The Iron Fairies Tokyo

The uniqueness of The Iron Fairies Bangkok brought international attention and acknowledgement. In 2015 Ashley brought The Iron Fairies to Japan. The design has been evolved from the Bangkok branch. Bottles of fairy dust line the walls on timeworn shelves, butterflies hover overhead in…