squalo vino

Squalo Vino is a boutique wine bar in Tiburon, California, designed to capture the same authenticity found in a great glass of wine — a true expression of place, material, and craft. Located on historic Main Street Tiburon, this 600-square-foot interior design project pairs industrial materials like steel, brass, and stone with warm, multi-toned wood featuring bold natural grain, creating a textural backdrop that feels both raw and refined. Custom furniture selections — including nubby wool and crushed velvet upholstery, cork accents, and mobile Vitra stools designed to evoke wine stoppers — bring tactile warmth to the space and are meant to age gracefully, collecting wine stains as quiet evidence of the evenings spent there.

What began as a design vision has since become something more: a gathering place where locals return night after night, where regulars know each other by name, and where every stain and scuff tells the story of a community steadily built one poured glass at a time. Today, Squalo Vino stands as downtown Tiburon's favorite wine bar, a home for old friends and new ones alike, drawn together by good wine and better company.

Every square foot was carefully planned to balance flexibility for groups of varying sizes with smart, design-forward storage solutions, including a custom retail wall and wine bottle display that double as striking visual features. The exterior restoration honors Tiburon's historic charm, finished in Benjamin Moore's mandated historical color palette, while a playful, modern touch comes through in the signage and window decals featuring Squalo Vino's spirited shark motif — a nod to Tiburon's name and coastal identity.

Sara Alexander led the interiors and was lead interior designer while at QA, the Architecture firm of the project. Developer: AC Ventures