À la mode: Tradition is topped with technology in new restaurant design

Hong Kong – A new dining space by British designer Michael Young marries tradition with cutting-edge industrial techniques, exemplifying the trend for a revitalisation of and renewal of interest in traditional craftsmanship.

‘I find that most new interiors feel austere due to the materials and surfaces they employ,’ Young says. His solution, in the new Pissarro restaurant in Hong Kong’s central business district, was to call on handicraft techniques such as paper folding, updating them with modern production capabilities. Using a practiced paper-folding technique, he collaborated with leading design engineers, including Taiwan-based Ken O’Rourke, to produce wall-sized aluminium panels embedded with different designs. Elsewhere in the restaurant, large-scale digital duplications of Pissarro’s art pay homage to the Impressionist painter while speeding him directly into the 21st century.