French designer Rudy Guénaire has created the interiors of Japanese restaurant Matsuri in Paris, combining wooden furniture covered in lacquer with pastel-coloured domes informed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Located in Paris’ 16th arrondissement, the 200-square-metre restaurant was given a full redesign by Guénaire.
As the menu focuses on “Japanese sushi from a Californian angle”, Guénaire drew on Japonisme – the Western fascination with Japanese design – for its interior.
“I drew on everything that has marked me from these two countries that I adore,” Guénaire, who runs Nightflight Studio, told Dezeen.
“From Japan, I took this idea that fascinates me, which is that the Japanese frame everything,” he added.
“As if everything had to be an island, firmly delimited by something that protects it and makes it unique.”
The American influence comes across in the shapes used to decorate the interior, which features colourful ceiling domes that are lit from the inside.
“From California, I took these incredible obliques that make me melt,” Guénaire said. “The kind you find in Frank Lloyd Wright or John Lautner’s work.”
“A slant that recalls the Native American tent, the primordial shelter,” he added.
“American modernists loved Japan and sometimes, they’d never even been there. It’s this Japonism that I wanted to prolong.”
At the centre of Matsuri is the kaiten – conveyor belt – on which the sushi comes out. The designer used wood throughout the restaurant and covered it in lacquer for this centrepiece.
“The kaiten is covered in high-gloss lacquer, reminiscent of the beautiful lacquer worshipped by the Chinese and then the Japanese,” he said.
“I used wood throughout because in Japan, everything is made of wood, that’s just the way it is and has to be!”
Pastel-hued domes decorate the ceiling above the kaiten, creating soft lighting and adding a touch of colour to the mainly white and wood interior.
“For the ceiling, I think I got the idea from the amazing ceiling of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Penfield House,” Guénaire said.
“I used industrial skydomes that I turned upside down and lit from the inside.”
The colour was toned down to create the right atmosphere for the restaurant.
“We set up a sophisticated lighting system with very subtle colour control,” Guénaire added.
“I chose cheerful, very American colour bases, and then, we subtly desaturated them to approach the Japanese aesthetic where nothing is ever garish.”
Guénaire also designed chairs for Matsuri that draw on those found in traditional Izakayas – Japanese pubs – though he says the original ones don’t correspond to his memories of them.
“While searching for photos of Izakaya, I never found this chair shape,” the designer said.
“Yet, as I recall, it’s exactly this chair that I’ve seen everywhere. All small and cute,” he added.
“Maybe that’s what Japonism is all about. You invent a lot when you think you’re bringing back memories.”
The interior of Matsuri, which is part of a restaurant chain founded in 1986 by a French-Japanese couple, is also decorated with old posters brought back from Japan.
“We always have friends coming back from Japan. We asked them for a little help!” Guénaire said.
Other Japanese restaurants on Dezeen include a sushi restaurant and sake bar with oxblood tiles and the Aragawa steakhouse selling “UK’s most expensive steak”.
The photography is by Ludovic Balay.
