London observe Pirajean Lees has converted a nightclub in Dubai into a restaurant educated by Japan’s jazz age and the grandiose events of silent movie actor Sessue Hayakwa.
The restaurant, which serves contemporary twists on Japanese classics, is named Mimi Kakushi soon after the unique bob haircut worn by the youthful Japanese Moga, or present day women, who adopted western fashions in the period after the initially world war.
This jazz age aesthetic is also mirrored in the inside of the eatery, which is layered with loaded textures and products like regular joinery, hand-painted partitions, beaded curtains and bespoke stained glass home windows.
“Mimi Kakushi embodies Japan when jazz was swinging into 1920s Osaka, bringing fashionable art and western fashions to it,” explained Clémence Pirajean and James Michael Lees, who established Pirajean Lees in 2007.
In specific, the duo seemed to the larger-than-life persona of Sessue Hayakwa, Japan’s 1st silver monitor star to find good results in Hollywood.
“Hayakwa completely personified this era,” claimed the studio. “Recognized for his lavish get-togethers, gold-plated auto and castle-design and style mansion, Hayakwa’s tale turned the basis for the design.”
The current architectural attributes of the nightclub, this kind of as the level alterations in the ceiling and structural columns, guided the spatial format of the cafe.
In the reception, diners are welcomed by hand-painted partitions right before making their way earlier a Japanese colonial-fashion bar with views throughout the sushi counter to the tables beyond.
An open up kitchen, obvious in the course of the space, makes a perception of theatre in the restaurant.
All electrical and mechanical equipment, as perfectly as the air flow process, is hidden guiding a straw ceiling grid to maintain a “household feel” in just the industrial area.
All through the undertaking, Pirajean Lees was very careful to filter the strong Dubai sunshine, which penetrates into Mimi Kakushi from two various instructions.
To the east, a bespoke stained glass window was installed on the existing facade, bathing the area in warm, amber mild. To the south, a wood bead curtain is applied together with mirrored tables and partitions to refract the gentle.
“Mimi Kakushi is on the top rated floor of the creating, with dual exposure on the east and west with totally glazed elevations,” the studio defined.
“It gets immediate, robust sunlight all day very long, which can be really awkward when dining. We recognized that rather, we could use it as an benefit, as a style and design ingredient in itself to transform the area all through the day as the light-weight variations.”
Sliding lattice screens designed from darkish timber can be made use of to divide the open-strategy restaurant into a sequence of scaled-down areas for privacy and special activities.
All lights, as well as the scalloped-edged tables and a variety of the seating, were made in-home by Pirajean Lees.
Other Japanese restaurant interiors include Kotori in São Paulo, which incorporates regular joinery procedures, and London’s Maido sushi cafe with its 1960s-design and style glass block wall and dark cherry wooden panelling.
Images is by Maha Nasra Eddé.