Circa restaurant design

I love sharing inspiring interiors with you and telling you how to recreate some element  of them yourselves. This post is about a restaurant that I designed  here in East Memphis.  It was an old space that had sat dormant for years. The neighborhood is upscale and I knew that I wanted to create a restaurant that was not the typical Memphis look. I envisioned it edgy meets country club. On a small budget I went in to design the furniture and the interior space as well as the finishes. This first image is of the foyer. I created a custom venetian plaster that I was a darker value of most of the fabrics. I then came back with pearl mica powders and put them in my wax and waxed the walls to this pearl look. I needed impact of flowers at the foyer. Instead of a large arrangement. I opted for these 15 vases with the same flower. I loved the impact on a budget. It has now become the visual  signature for the restaurant.

This is actually the bar area. The walls are metallic with fabulously dirty  mercury mirror, that we make. I have fun mixing eclectic elements of 18th century intaglios with edgier modern elements.

Here is a better view of the venetian plaster with the mica pearl wax. I love the velvet and industrial edge seating. These were both from P. Kaufman contract. I made the banquets much taller than normal. This gives the intimacy that was needed for larger parties. The bubble light fixture gave us the whimsy that we needed.

If your travels bring you to Memphis. Please go see Chef John Bragg at Circa Restaurant. The food is great and the atmosphere, well..... you'll see.