Top restaurant launches 2014: Tom Dixon’s Eclectic in Paris

Design Contract present another strike by design super-star Tom Dixon with his interior design office, “Design Research Studio”– Eclectic restaurant. After redeveloping Le Bon and launching Ma Cocotte, Fabienne and Philippe Amazalak Tom Dixon open the Eclectic restaurant, situated in the attractive surroundings of the Beaugrenelle centre in the 15th district of Paris. Eclectic restaurant had been launched during Maison et Objet 2014 and is the first flagship interior of Tom Dixon in France. The menu offer contemporary brasserie classics mixing parisian chic and british eccentricity. The bistro is conceived as a free-form tribute to 1970′s architecture and offer a more private and more profound experience that traditional brasserie.

Located in the Beaugrenelle Centre – a redevelopment of a monolithic concrete shopping mall originally opened in 1978 – the 160-cover brasserie features materials and motifs intended as an homage to 1970s brutalist architecture.

Concrete floors are left raw in places and waxed in others, while structural columns and ceiling beams are left exposed and the material is juxtaposed with warm brass panels on the walls. The angular forms popularised by exponents of Brutalist architecture influenced the recurring use of geometric shapes, which appear in the hexagonal wall panels, the sharp edges of the panels surrounding the circular booths, and a faceted plinth at the entrance. Fitted furniture creates different environments throughout the space, while brass table tops and benches upholstered in fabric and leather give the seating areas a warm and tactile feel.

Lighting is central element in Tom Dixon’s interior design scheme; an orchestra of different lamps provide controlled lighting designed to reflect exotic surfaces of wood, metal stone and paint. The interior features several examples of Dixon’s furniture and lighting, including a huge central chandelier made from 124 (!) of his Cell lights.

Pieces including high tables with inverted conical tops, rounded sinks in the bathrooms that resemble Dixon’s Void lamps, and the angular podium at the entrance provide a sculptural presence. As well as the Cell chandelier, smaller clusters of the lamps illuminate tables, while Dixon’s Etch lights, Base lamp and Lustre pendants also feature.