31 March 2026 | Photos: Holger Wüst
“The mural starts bold at the entrance and gives you a flavour of what's to come”
German nightclub Robert Johnson has unveiled a reimagined interior, created by British designer Stephen Smith, aka Neasden Control Centre.
Commissioned to expand upon the club’s “legendary status”, Stephen Smith developed an immersive, wall-spanning mural executed in acrylic paint and oil stick.
The transformation was first introduced by the Robert Johnson team via Instagram in January, noting that the venue’s walls would momentarily “appear in pure white, a blank surface” as part of a transition towards becoming a “beautiful piece of art”.
For the project, the artist was invited to reimagine the club with a “new look”, drawing on his signature bold and colourful visual language, which would then be “framed and developed” in collaboration with designer and electronic artist Dominik Keller.
In conversation with Mixmag, he described how the concept was rooted in the club’s heritage, “then it was all about the feeling I wanted to create for people when they are dancing with it.”
“The mural starts bold at the entrance and gives you a flavour of what's to come,” he noted. “Inside the main room you are instantly wrapped in an all-over mainly black and white mural that uses pops of red, blue and yellow to fit with the lighting scheme.”
Elsewhere in the space, a “druid figure” presides above the doorway holding a love heart, while a hand-painted bird appears along the staircase as a symbol of “freedom and letting go”, with the word ‘love’ subtly concealed on a wall to the right.
“I used massive painted forms beyond human scale and mixed collaged elements around the main room inspired by mixing and track selection,” he explained. “The dots on the side are a nod to the side of a technics deck.”
Stephen Smith spent a week on-site completing the mural, which was unveiled during a late-February event featuring Gerd Janson, before being shared on Instagram earlier today by Robert Johnson. The collaboration is set to continue throughout the year, with Smith working alongside Dominik Keller on a new series of flyer designs for the club.
