Trillium Birmingham: Six Months In

Trillium has now been open for over six months, and it felt like the right moment to look back.

We designed Trillium for Chef Glynn Purnell and Phil Innes on Colmore Row in Birmingham's business district, a 48-cover restaurant built around seasonal sharing plates, an ever-changing wine list, and a genuinely different atmosphere to anything else in the city. Six months on, it's become exactly what we hoped it would, a space that feels lived in rather than just launched.

The Story Behind the Design

Trillium takes its name from the flower, and the whole interior grew from that idea, quiet strength, folklore, nature's rhythms. We leaned into a romantic palette of wine-stained reds, beetroot and plum, softened with sage, clay and petal pink, and let that colour story run through every material choice.

Reclaimed timber and herringbone flooring ground the space, while an illuminated wall of wine gives it a focal point that's as much about atmosphere as it is function. Cascading greenery and dappled, woodland-inspired lighting bring movement into a room that could otherwise feel static, and expressive neon adds just enough edge to stop it tipping into pastiche.

One of our favourite details is the note wall, filled with tasting cards, sketches and fragments of poetry. It was designed to feel like the restaurant collects its own folklore over time, and six months in, that's genuinely what's happening.

Designing for Both Atmosphere and Service

Trillium's menu is built around shared, flexible dining, guests choosing their own way through the plates rather than following a set structure. That meant the layout, lighting and material choices had to work as hard functionally as they do visually, supporting a fast-moving, sociable service style without losing the sense of romance the space is known for.

The floor to ceiling glazing and planted terrace off Colmore Row extend that experience outdoors, letting the space shift from daytime calm to evening energy without needing to change a single fixture.

Six Months On

What's been most rewarding is seeing how a design intended to feel like a "sensory poem" has actually settled into daily use, a full room on a Wednesday night, guests lingering on the terrace, a note wall that keeps growing. That's always the real test of a hospitality interior, not how it photographs on opening week, but how it holds up once it belongs to the people using it.

Trillium adds a distinctive new voice to Birmingham's restaurant scene, and we're proud it's still finding its rhythm six months in.

FiFi Interiors designs immersive, story-led interiors for restaurants, bars and hospitality brands across the UK, including Trillium for Chef Glynn Purnell. Get in touch to talk through your next project.