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Dining by Design - Russell NormanDouglas Blyde talks to restaurateur Russell Norman about the design of his five restaurants in central London...
What does design mean to you?
As a restaurateur, I have to find ways to signify my intentions to guests. The almost prison-like tin plates, brown paper menus and 130 year-old pock marks in Spuntino’s walls (no expense spent); ketchup in 50p squeezy bottles from ‘That’s Andy’ on Berwick Street; Formica dispense bar and menus printed on lined schoolpaper at Mishkin's - these are really strong indicators that we don’t take ourselves too seriously...
What is the inspiration for your restaurants?
I love the ‘best ugly’ (jolie laide) philosophy of New York City-based designers, AvroKo. They have one defining rule – start by looking at the building, then take things back as far as possible. Once stripped, they don’t necessarily dismiss the ugly, but work out ways to make ugly beautiful. They’re designers turned ‘self propelled’ restaurateurs. I particularly like their East Village restaurant, Saxon + Parole (named after two racehorses). I think critic AA Gill understood what we were trying to do when he wrote about our ‘light sconces’ at Polpo as being ‘gouged into walls’. My mother didn’t, though. She asked: “when are you going to finish it?”
Do you consider yourself to be a trendsetter?
Honestly, my restaurants are solutions, rather selfishly, to my dining problems. Having opened five in two-years, I didn’t want to repeat concepts; I want to keep myself interested and challenged. I see versions of Polpo, with ceiling tiles and handmade bare filament bulbs (which we burn at 15%). But as others use them, I become less enamoured with them. I remember Milk and Honey’s Jonathan Downey told me “they’re not yours, Russell, they existed before – there’s no such thing as an original idea!”
Our signature stools, based on a Hill County midtown rib shack, are the result of business partner Richard Beatty finding a foundry in Elephant and Castle for the bases and another firm in Yorkshire to turn the seats. I told a designer to do his own research when he asked me where I got them. It took half a lifetime to get my own!
Are landlords sympathetic to your schemes?
Generally they’re sophisticated enough to understand that we’re showing a great deal of sympathy to their buildings. And, in the case of Spuntino, we discovered an extra metre and a half of ceiling during the fit, complete with motifs from when it was a dairy (latterly it was an Indian restaurant, and we still get mail from the British Curry Association!) But I always take time to craft elaborate mood boards.
How important is lighting?
I blacked out the windows on our popcorn machine in Spuntino. I’m obsessed with lighting at the lowest wattage. If people find it too dark to read our menus, we give them the torch of shame, which is the size of a truncheon and very industrial looking at Spuntino! Our wall mounted strip lights at Mishkin refer to the strip lighting at working class caffs.
What is your home like?
I live in a late Victorian house, which is so late it was built after Victoria died (1903). It has lovely proportions, fireplaces, and a turning staircase. Our new kitchen looks like a combination between Polpo and Spuntino. And we always drink from Duralex nursery tumblers, so there’s a definite connection between home and restaurant...
Polpo
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