CURRANT transports us to the fin de siècle classically known as La Belle Époque ("Beautiful Era") … a cultural movement that began in Europe during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. The vision for this restaurant was to capture that period’s distinctive art and architecture in a French-inspired brasserie. Vintage elements in furniture, lighting, material selections, textiles and patterns play against the restored architectural bones of this remarkable space to accomplish the sought-after design. The discovery of high ceilings and small pieces of original architectural fabric above the 1950s lay-in ceilings ignited an important design direction. The designer felt it critical to restore and recreate elements of the architectural fabric to give the space real grandeur that would be unique, authentic and reminiscent of old Europe. An intimacy is felt in every corner and niche …

Also, unique to this restaurant is the collaboration of many artisans … a trademark that this designer brings to a project:

• quintessential Parisian sidewalk café seating, authentic to the era

• seasonally changing original art from the artist who hand embellished the interior columns

• sculpted column capitals and gilded banquette tops

• chalk artistry above the swinging red kitchen doors

• water-etched, brushed metal trim at the bar and tables

• faux finish perceived from an earlier time along the predominant west wall

• intricately forged ironwork mast mirroring the bar’s image from above

• carefully crafted and complex brasserie-style floor tile design

• intricate paint scheme in subtly blending tones of taupe, charcoal and red

• challenging mill work replicating the historic transoms along the 90' of storefront

• critical must-fit upholstery work with complicated pattern repeats and matching along curved tops and around tufting

• drywallers produced many wonderful design effects: intersecting arches, columns, transoms and coffers nailing in very tight spaces with fine, museum-grade finishes … definitely not what most could do

• an electrical superintendent that figured out complicated power distribution and switching to achieve the desired aesthetic for the front-of-house as well as the needed functionality for the kitchen

• a mechanical crew that wrangled a 7,500 pound scrubber (17' x 10' x 10') off a truck, across a sidewalk (at high noon), between columns at about 10' OC up into its ceiling cavity and made it work

• graphic design artistry that produced authentic vintage imaging and branding for signs, menu and collateral materials

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