In Conversation with Lee Brennan
The Belongil in Byron Bay is conceived as more than a restaurant. It is an immersive, multi-layered dining destination grounded in memory, texture, and place.
For this trade-focused conversation, we spoke with Lee Brennan of Lee Brennan Design about process, material honesty, collaboration, and the realities of specifying for hospitality at depth.
Featured at The Belongil: Hamilton Dining Chair in African Slate Buffalo Leather & Khufu Pendant
Designing memory rather than surface
The Belongil is conceived as an immersive dining experience rather than a conventional restaurant. How did you approach designing a space so deeply anchored in memory, ritual, and atmosphere rather than surface aesthetics?
If there’s a real focus and connection to material from the beginning, a space evolves honestly. We stayed disciplined to our original choices, and we were lucky to have full support from the client in holding that line. Every element was chosen for its depth, its connection to the natural world, and its quiet hints of personal memory.
Designing nostalgia is difficult because memory is vague and intangible. For me, surrendering to the process is the most direct path back to emotion.
1980s Byron Bay had a particular kind of voodoo that soaked into me as a kid on holidays. My wife Alex shares that feeling, and this project gave us both a chance to coax that energy into existence, maybe even to cast a similar spell on a new generation.
Material as foundation
Your work often begins with the raw material itself. At The Belongil, how did texture, patina, and material honesty guide both the spatial language and the furniture you specified?
Patina is a big part of our identity. We’ve always worked closely with reclaimed materials and artefacts. One of the main challenges was resurrecting the existing building into something emotive.
We actually pre-crafted a lot of the surfaces in our workshop before construction to bring additional depth. You could call that “manufactured patina,” depending on how you look at it. But for us, sourcing off-the-shelf materials is a less inspiring path than crafting recipes from scratch.
The furniture echoes that same in-house spirit with the concrete tables in FEU, which then pushed us toward the weightiness and texture of buffalo leather used on the Uniqwa chairs and pendant lighting.
Within the space, the Khufu pendants in dark roast and the Hamilton and Guatemala seating in African slate leather sit comfortably within this language of depth and weight, reinforcing the material narrative rather than competing with it.
Featured at The Belongil: Khufu Pendant in Dark Roast and Hamilton Dining Chairs in African Slate Buffalo Leather
Balancing durability and emotion
When selecting furniture for a hospitality setting, what qualities matter most to you beyond function, and how do you balance durability with emotional resonance in a space intended to age gracefully?
It’s really hard. Comfort, aesthetics, durability, functionality, those things don’t often hang out together. At some point you usually lean toward either function or beauty, and I tend to favour the aesthetic side of life then my partner and wife, Alex will guide me toward sensibility.
But here, I think we found the magic ratio. The search for sacred geometry is over! I spent a lot of hours dining at this arrangement and couldn’t find much wrong with it.
We worked with Uniqwa on the chair design to get the seating position right for our needs. It’s amazing how a small adjustment can change the alignment of your whole body and how everyone will feel the same chair so differently.
Featured at The Belongil: Guatemala Barchair in African Slate Buffalo Leather
Collaboration at full intensity
Projects of this depth rely on trust between designers, makers, and craftspeople. How did collaboration influence the final outcome at The Belongil, and how do you know when a space has reached its natural conclusion?
It comes back to surrender again. Collaboration was everything. We were deep in planning with the architects and clients for at least six months before a builder was engaged.
Once onsite work began, it was about being tightly interwoven with every trade and supplier to achieve the vision. We were in awe of every human involved. It was the most intense undertaking I’ve ever been part of.
There wasn’t really an opportunity to find a “natural conclusion”, the opening date was set in stone. We were still working our way out the door while chefs were prepping and customers were walking in.
Respecting the craft
Looking back on the completed space, what moment best captures the essence of The Belongil for you, and what insight would you offer fellow interior designers specifying for hospitality projects of this nature?
I see it as two phases: the design phase and the construction phase.
During design we were blessed to be surrounded by people with serious experience, people who moved fast, without doubt, fear, or procrastination. I can feel that energy in how The Belongil operates now as a venue.
Then construction: 6am street meetings with a hundred trades ready for battle every day. That will always stay with me.
My insight is connected to this: you must earn respect from the trades and suppliers you work with. Sweat, bleed and drink with them. Show up before them and stay later. Listen. Lead by example and you will inspire everyone to connect with the vision.
Lee Brennan Design, head designers, interior architects & makers of The Belongil Precinct’s interiors.
Imagery courtesy of Lee Brennan Design The Belongil Andrea van Heerden Creative
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