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University alumna Rose Giroso likes to ask lots of questions. She also enjoys building and rearranging things. But most importantly, she's passionate about transforming lives. As an architectural interior designer, she believes her work can influence how people move and live.
Giroso's most recent project focused on the Stone Balloon, an old Main Street tavern that reopened last month as an upscale restaurant and winehouse. The transformation was rather noticeable.
Gone were the crowds of drunken and sweaty students, convulsing to live rock 'n' roll bands. They were replaced by a 30-and-older crowd dressed in business casual, sipping wine and listening to jazz, a welcome change to the older Newark crowd.
Giroso attributes her design success not only to her bachelor's degree in art and 20 years of experience, but also to her degree in psychology. Through an innovative approach called lifestyle profiling, she matches design with her clients' personalities.
"In America, we kind of have this concept of moving into spaces and making them work for us, but the true concept of interior design is to create spaces that serve us," Giroso says. "And to do that you need to have some kind of understanding and really need to know yourself and what your needs are."
During the first few meetings with a client, she spends a large amount of time learning about what makes them feel good and their vision for life. The process becomes an intense psychological interview.
The information she gathers from these sessions influences the design of the presented space. During her talks with wine house owner Jim Baeurle, she carefully analyzed his vision for the restaurant. Together they came up with a Tuscan-inspired wine bar designed with celebratory colors and European flavor.
When Baeurle presented the blueprints to Giroso, she immediately identified two problems. The design of the restaurant was a long rectangle with contemporary 18-foot-high ceilings. This proved to interfere with the preliminary warm Tuscan design. To make the restaurant more embracing, Giroso created different spatial areas.
"My focus was on ergonomics," she says. "I wanted to create areas where everyone's different needs would be acknowledged."
The initial entrée and retail area, where wine is sold, is modeled to resemble a living room. It's a place to come and hang out with friends, drink wine and relax. Toward the center of the restaurant and in direct sight of the entrance is the bar, which invites customers inside and creates a warm feeling. To the left there's a lounge created for more vibrant and lively customers. The dining area is toward the back and situated next to the open kitchen.
However, Giroso is most proud of the loft-style dining room that curves around on the second floor. It's designed primarily for private parties and wine tasting.
Another key design choice is the use of natural and green materials. Brick pavers give way to stone and natural wood and go into a cement bar with cork lining.
"A lot of designers are afraid of mixing so many materials," Giroso says. "It's not easy, but we were able to do it really well."
The combination of warm yellow, green and brown colors with the Tuscan furniture ties the design together.
One of the few elements that Giroso actually took from the old tavern was the original stone. As the building was demolished, people started taking the stone as mementos - some were sold on eBay. Giroso used the remaining stone to build a large archway between the dining area and the bar.
"Using the original stone creates an energy just within itself - that's just cool and nostalgic," she says.
But not everyone is happy with the transformation.
Darren Kane, university alumnus and author of "Glory Days at Delaware," states in an e-mail message that while the new Stone Balloon is beautifully designed, he has mixed feelings about the use of stones from the Balloon's old façade.
"They're well incorporated into the design," Kane says, "but at the same time, the use of the stones kind of screams an apology attempt - 'See! This is still the Stone Balloon!' It's not."
General manager and university alumnus Bill Galbraith says the restaurant has received a big response from the alumni who have visited so far.
"A lot of people are upset at first when they hear what we have done," Galbraith says.
Apart from having the same location, owner and liquor license, the winehouse has nothing in common with its predecessor and many students feel that it's unfair to keep the old name.
"But then the old patrons notice that the floor doesn't stick anymore and they are like, 'Wow, this place is great,' " he says.
Giroso says her company, Rose Authentica, is about real and authentic design. It's important for her to create interiors that are true to the clients' vision. Baeurle had a vision of the Stone Balloon as grown up.
Giroso says with age, everyone changes. She and her friends have different interests and tastes now. The new Stone Balloon Winehouse gives them a place to reminisce about their college days while enjoying the present.
"We couldn't recreate the Stone Balloon," Giroso says. "You just can't take a tavern where rock bands play and make it a restaurant. It has to change."
Kane agrees.
"The place epitomized the down-and-dirty energy and fun of the college bar/band experience," Kane says. "I can't see how a wine bar can capture that and forge great college memories for people, but hey, it's not supposed to - that's not their intent."
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