Paris-based restaurant group Daroco has opened a London outpost with mirrored, curving interiors designed by French architect Olivier Delannoy.
Delannoy, who has worked on Daroco’s previous projects, reproduced the mirrored ceiling from its two Paris restaurants for the Daroco’s latest location in Soho.
“Though the layout maintains an orderly appearance, the reflection of the mirror creates an anarchic, enchanted dimension to the space,” he told Dezeen.
A wide range of designer lighting was placed throughout the restaurant, with arm wall-mounted lights by Penta, flower-shaped wall-mounted lights by Leucos and suspended glowing discs by DCW Édition. Together they were placed to create a softly lit interior that complements the mirrored ceiling.
“We approached this project with the aim of mirroring an English garden,” Delannoy explained. “In evoking the garden, the lighting fixtures were inspired by plant motifs such as flowers, water plant stems and tree branches.”
“The curved resin light tubes were designed to resemble the stem of a phosphorescent water plant,” he continued.
The English garden concept was extended to other design elements such as a large pizza oven covered in blue butterflies and the flooring.
“We designed the floor to be inspired by the undulation of the first raindrops on a landscaped pond,” said Delannoy.
Within the restaurant’s dining areas Delannoy used a diverse range of materials with marble and wooden table tops paired with crushed-velvet seats.
The colour composition of the fabric used on the seating is intended to “evoke the flowers, earth and vegetation of the water’s edge”.
Delannoy also drew inspiration from the Italian Renaissance for the restaurant, which serves Italian food.
The mirrored ceiling bounces light around the interior and creates the illusion of a larger space, “such as that of a renaissance hall,” he said.
Visitors are met with brass arches informed by the structure of Florence’s basilicas and a large counter that directly references the Baldachin – a large bronze canopy in St Peter’s, Vatican City.
Delannoy co-founded Reinh Agency in 2016 and its completed projects include a Parisian cocktail bar and a restaurant in a former Belgian brewery warehouse.
Other restaurant interiors recently featured on Dezeen include a pizzeria in a Finnish ski-resort, a |cathedral of fried chicken” and an art-deco informed restaurant in New York.
The photography is by Julie Spicy.
Source: Rooms - dezeen.com
