Project brief -  When you are a good cook you don’t want to cook just for yourself. You want to let other people relish the magic that you are creating on the pan. The client for Olivio, a big time food connoisseur, wanted to spread this love for food. To fulfill his longtime dream he decided to take a plunge in the FnB industry. He rented a small space in a busy market and named it Olivio.  Although Olivio was just a brand name but for him it was a lifetime investment that he really wanted to nurture with his passion and to conceptualize its ambience he took our help. Our primary job was to make the interiors such that it looks spacious inspite of the small floor plate and can also attract public. Once the people are inside, the quality and taste of food would do the rest of business. Most challenging part was to draw the public attention. In a locality full of low cost mouthwatering street food and good established fine dining restaurants it’s really important to strike the right balance.  You also have to cater to a mass who can afford as well as feel it worthy enough to spend. The interiors and ambience takes the lead from the very beginning until you are served. That’s the challenge we accepted.

Design process - The concept of looking at a project from two perspectives is what continuously intrigues us. It gives us the dual advantage of being able to perceive the design from opposite angles and also project the space in dual dimension such that the same space looks bigger than it actually is. It also serves a purpose which we call duality in design. We tried to create this effect by coming up with textures which are modular in nature and also have different visual appeal when being viewed from two different sides. The core focus of the design then transcends to these textures which are carefully projected on walls, partitions, furniture, opaque and transparent features. There is no illusion in any part of the design but the juxtaposition of these visual features somehow gives an illusory effect.

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Design description -  On a floor plate of 695 sft with 233 sft of kitchen, back of kitchen and washroom, the only space left for seating and reception was barely 462 sft which needed smart planning to accommodate 30 pax in a compact space. The idea was to create a visual symphony of a range of textures to transform a tiny space into an explosion of expressions with minimal design moves. This needed a relook at the standards of ergonomics, scale and proportions. Each and every seat and table was customized to arrive at a minimum yet comfortable posture. All the dimensions of movements, circulation and clearances were minutely researched and calculated to its nearest possible dimension. Each and every detail and finishes were very precisely figured which needed a regular and close discussion with all the craftsmen on site before execution. A lot of prototypes were made to figure out the exact module which consumed the least time, cost and labour. The ceiling height was already low which meant the possibility of false ceiling needs to be ruled out from the very beginning and  the services had to be kept exposed. But to maintain the continuity of the texture of the wall on to the ceiling a part of the ceiling was made textured ceiling.  The metal sections whether structural or visual were deliberately kept thin. The colours were chosen based on the aesthetics of the brand colours synonymous to the olive.  A mirror at the end of the wall dramatically increased the space two fold.