Favorite CRÈME-designed restaurant
RedFarm in [New York’s] West Village. For a restaurant to be outstanding, the food, service, and environment must work together cohesively to tell a story. RedFarm has a classic farmhouse feel and inventive dim sum menu, bringing a refreshing green market sensibility to contemporary Chinese dining.
Favorite restaurant CRÈME didn’t design
La Côte Bleue in Bouzigues, France, which is a fishing town known for oysters. My wife’s family is from that region, and they’ve been going to this restaurant since long before she was born. It has outdoor seating that overlooks an amazing bay filled with oyster farms.
Biggest restaurant pet peeve
Inappropriate sound levels—it’s important to take into account the ambiance and the experience wanted for a space.
First thought when entering a restaurant
‘Where do I want to sit?’ When [designing a] restaurant, we aim to give each seat its own unique experience. Every seat can’t be the best in the house, but they all can have something special about them.
Cooking at home
I make handmade tofu. I especially enjoy cooking things we harvest from the garden. Also, my dad recently retired in Japan and he’s taking cooking classes. I look forward to cooking with him.
Story behind recent CRÈME project, the Vine
We wanted the Vine [2, at the Eventi Hotel in New York] to be an extension of the wonderful outdoor space that’s adjacent, and to make it feel almost like a greenhouse with a library so the design and materials complement the fresh menu by chef Laurent Tourondel.
Secret to successful designer-chef collaborations
It’s crucial to connect on a level of craftsmanship and gain mutual respect at that hands-on level. It’s also very important to listen to the ideas of collaborators to better understand their process and feed off each other’s energy and creativity. We pay close attention to the details, just as a chef would. We have projects where we were so excited that we handpainted murals, or sculpted and installed signs for the restaurants.
Dining scene I am watching
Williamsburg in Brooklyn. It’s the surrounding neighborhood to our studio and where I live. We’re in the middle of a fast-transforming neighborhood and it’s interesting to see it develop; it’s like being in a social experiment.
Restaurant memorabilia
I collect matches, cards, and menus, depending on the restaurant—things you’re allowed and not allowed to collect.
Greatest lesson learned designing restaurants
The power of food always humbles me. Not just restaurants, but eating in general—it’s such an important part of our daily lives, it’s always around us, and it concerns so much of what we talk about. I like how it brings people together.
