Feature: A Feast for the Eyes
November 1, 2004
Using lighting as the central design element, as well as a way to illuminate
menus and sushi boats, the space redefines the dynamic of a modern sushi bar.
Light is projected through the glass walls of the restaurant’s exterior, onto
the floor-to-ceiling wood screens positioned throughout and along the floor’s
perimeter. To continue their vision of merging technology with the natural
world, the designers positioned a large wall of video display monitors behind
the sushi bar, all of which are fronted with transparent and mirrored acrylic at
a 90-degree angle to produce a kaleidoscopic effect. “We were simply told to
‘make it the best,’ ” Yabu says. “They wanted a strong sense of ‘wow’ since
everything in Vegas is about one-upping each other.”; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Marimoto’s center aisle of Plexiglass
banquettes
pulses with
LED lights that change color every 15
minutes. Designer
Karim Rashid created a
sense of movement
with an undulating bamboo
ceiling and sculptural walls. (Click
image to enlarge)
The ability to create hip interiors without alienating diners who have more
conservative tastes has kept restaurant designer Tony Chi in high demand. “When
I design, I’m designing for several generations,” says Chi, who has created some
500 restaurants during his more than 20 years in the business. “There is a
larger percentage of younger people entering nice restaurants, so I have to
consider them. But, at the same time, I wouldn’t want to design a space my
mother would feel awkward in.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
In NoMI’s wine cellar marble-topped islands
double as refrigerators. “People order extravagant wine. I wanted to show where
it came from,”
Tony Chi says. (Click image to enlarge)
Chi’s design approach for NoMI, a contemporary French restaurant housed within
the Park Hyatt Chicago, is all about blending boundaries. An upscale restaurant
frequented by residents (hence the name, which alludes to North Michigan Avenue)
and hotel guests, the design had to be both multifunctional and transitional to
accommodate the three different moods of breakfast, lunch and dinner. “The
simple redesign of a space by adjusting the name can do so much,” explains Chi,
who renamed the bar the Salon for a little extra panache and to, again, blur the
boundaries of how most people define a bar’s use. “Telling a woman you’ll meet
her at the Salon sounds so much better–you can meet someone at a salon for
breakfast, but you can’t meet at a bar.”; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
AR Valentien, named for a local painter, stays true to its
Craftsman roots and features lanterns made by seven different artisans. (Click image to enlarge)
Chi carried that philosophy into NoMI’s other spaces as well, tweaking the name
of the private dining room to the Butler Dining Room, which offers VIP butler
service. “At most places, the private dining room is basically an empty room,”
explains Chi who uses the classic materials of leather and wenge wood to convey
a sense of timelessness and warmth. “Here, it’s a dining room that just happens
to be private.”
While a restaurant designer can bring experience and insight to the table, the restaurant owner is under pressure to stay ahead of the competition, and that has caused many to look outside the box.
Karim Rashid happens to be one of those out-of-the-box kind of individuals. An industrial designer known for his streamlined perfume bottle creations for fashion designer Issey Miyake, and his Yves Saint Laurent travel cosmetic set and colorful furnishings for Umbra, Rashid was hired by restaurant owner Stephen Starr to orchestrate a Philadelphia restaurant for Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. “He only had two requests,” says Rashid. “One was that nobody touches anything with their hands in the bathroom, and two, that he is visible.” Rashid chose a 20-foot-wide and 200-foot-long space and, inspired by the layout of an airplane, designed “two rows of seats on the aisles and a center section made up of tables for four or six.” Opaque white Plexiglass-framed booths in the center section are lit from the inside and change colors. “I fixed everything so that nothing could be moved, and so that the spirit and aesthetics of the space are always strong, linear and perfect,” Rashid says.Joining Rashid in the ranks of industrial designers who transition to interior design is former Philippe Starck designer Patrick Jouin. “There are boundaries to design, but you can cross them,” says Jouin, whose design firm is named Agence. Frequently collaborating with chef Alain Ducasse, Jouin’s success lies in his ability to inject a fresh breath of modernity into classical spaces by mixing clean, colorful contemporary interiors with traditional architecture.
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