Bringing storytelling to life through sound, space and sensory design

London, 2025: In collaboration with Civic, Bompas & Parr celebrated Pottermore Publishing and Audible’s launch of Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions. Hosted at Protein Studios, the project transformed listening into a shared, immersive experience, inviting guests to step inside the world of Harry Potter through sound, space and taste.

The venue was reimagined as a multi-room journey inspired by Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, with guests moving through environments referencing iconic moments including the Sorting Hat, Flying Keys and Wizard’s Chess. At the heart of the experience was a communal listening moment, reframing the audiobook as a collective ritual rather than a solitary act.

Bompas & Parr were responsible for the food and drink concept, developing a bespoke menu of canapés and cocktails that extended the narrative into flavour, texture and form. The canapé programme translated familiar references into playful, unexpected interventions. Guests encountered fish and chips served on edible “newspaper”, owl-inspired tea-pickled quail eggs presented within illuminated birdcage serveware, and a doughnut burger with smoked cheddar and bacon jam revealed from a suitcase, echoing themes of travel, transition and discovery. Plant-forward dishes, including mushroom wafers with mustard and soy and Hodemedod’s chickpea cakes with pickled walnut and crispy kale, sat alongside nostalgic British flavours reworked with theatrical presentation. Sweet moments included edible train tickets, nodding to the journey into the wizarding world.

The cocktail programme further deepened the storytelling, with each drink conceived as a liquid character study inspired by the Hogwarts houses and the figure of the Headmaster. Smoke & Bravery (Gryffindor) arrived beneath a glass cloche, releasing aromatic vapour in a moment of shared spectacle, while Pure Ambition (Slytherin) shifted colour through butterfly pea tea as citrus was introduced. The Patient Pour (Hufflepuff) offered warmth and generosity, crowned with golden foam created tableside, and Wisdom’s Whisper (Ravenclaw) delivered a cooler, restrained highball with subtle UV-reactive details. Anchoring the programme was The Headmaster, a non-alcoholic drink whose gentle colour transformation provided a unifying thread across the bar.

Together, the food and drinks transformed the evening into a narrative experience where flavour, sound and ritual worked in concert. By using canapés and cocktails as storytelling devices, the project demonstrated how intellectual property can be reinterpreted through contemporary food and drink design, turning listening into a multi-sensory act of shared discovery.