Blending Luxury & Thai Influences: Crafting Hospitality Interiors for Chaophraya Restaurants

When guests step into one of the four Chaophraya Restaurants in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, and Newcastle, they experience more than just dining. Each venue immerses visitors in a space where refined design, bespoke furniture, and contemporary Thai influences combine to create an atmosphere of warmth and understated luxury.

As contract furniture suppliers and procurement specialists, RHA Furniture was entrusted with delivering a complete furniture package that embodied Chaophraya’s design vision, combining aesthetic excellence with the durability required for high-use hospitality spaces.

With over 30 years of experience, RHA Furniture is one of the UK’s leading contract furniture specialists, supplying high-quality furniture and custom-made joinery to the hospitality, leisure, and corporate sectors.

Project Brief & Vision

The brief for Chaophraya’s UK venues was to express the brand’s Thai heritage through a modern lens, creating interiors that balance elegance, comfort, and performance. Every item, from dining chairs to outdoor armchairs, needed to contribute to the guest experience while maintaining consistency across multiple locations.

RHA Furniture supplied a coordinated package of dining chairs, barstools, table tops, cushions, and outdoor armchairs, designed to deliver both visual harmony and functional resilience. This multi-site project required precision, collaboration, and careful logistical management.

Design & Specification

The interior direction focused on rich materials, layered textures, and a sophisticated palette inspired by Chaophraya’s Thai heritage. The scheme combined luxurious velvets, warm faux leathers, and tactile woven fabrics to create a sense of comfort and refinement throughout.

Working closely with the Chaophraya team, RHA developed a tailored specification that reflected the brand’s premium aesthetic while meeting the performance standards of a busy hospitality environment.

The furniture package included:

• Dining chairs and barstools upholstered in fabrics from Panaz, Skopos, Sunbury, and iliv, selected for their depth of colour, durability, and tactile richness.
• Table tops finished in Breccia Paradiso–effect laminate, chosen for its elegant stone appearance and long-term practicality. The laminate provides the luxurious look of marble while offering superior resistance to stains and wear, making it ideal for a high-traffic restaurant setting.
• Bespoke cushions, created exclusively for this project, introducing accent colours and soft textures that tie together the overall scheme.
• Outdoor armchairs designed for resilience and comfort, maintaining the same level of design integrity as the interior furniture.

Each piece was crafted with meticulous attention to finish and comfort, ensuring the furniture harmonised seamlessly with Chaophraya’s welcoming and luxurious atmosphere.

Procurement & Delivery

Delivering consistent quality and finish across four venues required careful planning and coordination. Furniture was supplied in multiple phases, with different quantities and item selections tailored to each restaurant’s layout and operational needs.

As all locations are in busy city centres, logistics required precise timing to navigate restricted access, parking limitations, and live restaurant operations. RHA worked closely with each site team to align deliveries with refurbishment schedules and minimise disruption to staff and guests.

To streamline the process, all goods were consolidated at a third-party warehouse before being distributed across England and Scotland. Each item was checked before leaving the factory, and final quality inspections were carried out upon arrival in the UK by RHA’s logistics coordinator, Marina, ensuring every product met specification and finish standards before dispatch.

The Leeds restaurant required additional coordination, as it was the only site to include Breccia Paradiso–effect laminate table tops. Project Coordinator Roma and Account Manager Ross attended the site to oversee installation and verify that the completed fit-out matched the client’s expectations.

This structured logistics model demonstrated the value of combining procurement expertise with operational precision, enabling RHA to deliver a tailored furniture package to each location while maintaining consistency, quality, and timing across all four Chaophraya sites.

Outcome

The completed Chaophraya venues showcase design harmony and craftsmanship, uniting cultural inspiration with modern hospitality function. Each restaurant offers an environment that feels both elegant and welcoming, reflecting the brand’s distinctive identity.

The project highlights RHA Furniture’s strength in collaborating with clients and design teams to translate creative vision into reality, delivering tailored furniture solutions that balance creativity, quality, and performance.

Richard Simpson, Director of Chaophraya Operations said: 

“We had an excellent experience working with RHA Furniture. From start to finish, the team was highly communicative and professional, making the entire process smooth and stress-free. The quality of their products is outstanding, and the service was delivered seamlessly.

It was especially reassuring to have their delivery and installation team present on the day itself — everything was handled efficiently and to a very high standard. We couldn’t be happier with the result and would highly recommend RHA Furniture to anyone looking for top-quality furniture and exceptional service.”

Why It Matters

In contemporary hospitality design, furniture plays a pivotal role in shaping atmosphere and brand storytelling. The Chaophraya project demonstrates how design-led specification and expert procurement can elevate interiors beyond aesthetics, enhancing guest experience, functionality, and long-term value.

As hospitality design continues to evolve, projects like Chaophraya highlight the importance of collaboration between designers, suppliers, and operators to achieve interiors that are both beautiful and built to last.

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