Art in Restaurant Design
Integrating art into restaurants and gathering spaces is about resisting sameness. It is about choosing the handmade over convenience, and standardization.
I often grow fatigued around overly polished, heavily branded interiors that feel designed more for visibility and social media than for experience. Custom art is one of the most effective ways to counter that. Restaurants are places where we celebrate things made by hand, pasta shaped, pizzas fired, vegetables chopped, and it only feels natural that the interiors reflect that same care and human process.
Cyanotype prints are created through a photographic process that uses sunlight to expose the image, resulting in a rich monochromatic blue.
Here I am hand dying large panels of canvas with the chemicals that make up cyanotype. The panels must dry in dark place without sunlight. this art was made for the Pablo Y Pablo Mexican kitchen's in Wallingford, Leshi & Woodinville. The biggest compliment I can receive as a designer is when a client says, “it feels like it was always here.” To me, that signals a true understanding of the guest, the owner, and the context of the space. This is not about making something invisible or boring. It is about creating work that feels at home in its neighborhood and community.
Next, I take the large panels outside into the sun and layer objects on top. At Pablo y Pablo, we used a collection of chairs.
Test strips can be made to determine the correct exposure time needed to achieve a strong image and a deep indigo blue.
Art becomes part of a space’s identity. It can hold a story, reference a place, or reflect the hands and personalities behind the restaurant itself. Instead of repeating a logo or over-defining a concept, it allows a brand to breathe. It introduces depth and interpretation. A space becomes a layered story, activating all the senses rather than a single declaration.
Next the exposed prints are rinsed in water, dried and then carefully hung up. We secured the art with decorative clavos, metal hand forged nail heads, from Bitters Co.
WE CAN WORK WITH ANY STYLE TO CREATE ART FOR YOUR SPACE
