Stockholm design studios Note and Lerch joined forces to create the interior for Finefoods, which, at the risk of stating the obvious, is very fine indeed. Inspired by the muted color palette of photographer Jordan Sullivan’s “Death Valley” series (see a few examples of that above), deep gray herringbone flooring is used to mimic the rocky terrain, while the shades of green, turquoise, red, and salmon pink echo the effect of sunlight in the desert at various times of day.
It’s a fitting color scheme for a restaurant and coffee shop open from morning till night, which Note said was just one of the challenges to design for. “It must work just as well serving breakfast at 7am in the morning as serving beer 7pm in the evening,” the studio said in its description of the project. Add to this the strict environmental building regulations imposed upon new constructions in the south Stockholm neighborhood of Hammarby Sjöstad, and Note had its fair share of design research to do.
Fortunately, many local Scandinavian materials are as beautiful as they are sustainable. Ash wood, leather, brass were used in the custom furniture and lighting (though the lush green Guatemala marble was shipped over).
Additional products include: lacquered wooden chairs from Zilio Aldo, floor tiles from Mutina, and brass wall lights from Atelier Areti.
