Immersive eating: Restaurant exudes faction mentality

Substance, Bibo’s design agency, had a complex brief: ‘To create a restaurant where street art could exist alongside classic French cuisine.’ Diners will eat surrounded by installations by street artists Invader, JR and Mr Brainwash and bigwigs like Banksy, Damien Hirst and Daniel Arsham.

Part of an increased movement towards blending ideas and products across eras and aesthetic categories, Bibo is offering a mixture of branding and experience that would have seemed indecipherable just five years ago. Menus are printed on fictional train schedules from the past, while pop-art figures jump out by the entrance to the bathrooms. ‘I felt [that a] 1930s design – which is modern enough to serve as a backdrop to constantly changing and extremely eclectic artistic expression – would create an elegant and comfortable environment in which to serve French gastronomy,' says Substance creative director Maxime Dautresme according to Design Boom. 

The space reminds us of Miss Ko, an Asian restaurant in Paris with a fictional character at its core. For more, read our Innovate on Miss Ko. 

For more on brands using fiction to add interest and intrigue, see our Faction Marketing macrotrend.