French architect and designer Rudy Guénaire has conceptualised a nostalgic American-style bistro in Nantes, France. It’s as if Rudy designed the restaurant to feel like an Italian speedboat had lost direction and ended up in the turquoise waters offshore of the Polynesian islands. In the 1930s, The Pacific islands represented a sort of paradise for the Americans and the Tiki culture quickly became very famous in all of America.

The polished design takes inspiration from Italian vintage embellishments mixed with bohemian and American touches. Rudy nodded to the ships of Italy with the textures and palettes of transalpine Art Deco. Island touches fit together perfectly like Tikki, exotic plants and lagoon-coloured benches. Obsessed with the idea of cabins and built-in furniture, Rudy organised the restaurant into a succession of encased modular spaces.

Each module is made of hexagonal seating made of timber covered in marine varnish. The marshmallow-like backrests are reminiscent of a diner, or of a classic American convertible. Round mirrors and milky-blue windows delimit different spaces and provide privacy and the wood columns hold all the equipment needed to run the restaurant. The bar and stairways, designed like a single object, steps out and appear more like an object one would find on a larger cruise ship.

Every piece of furniture, including the coat hangers, is designed by Rudy for the project. For the chair, he found his inspiration in the decor of cruise ships from the 1930s and in the set of an old James Bond movie. The suspended lamps look like unidentified flying objects and diffuse a sort of mysterious light. Niches and cutouts leaving a little space where too much fullness would have been boring.

[Images courtesy of Rudy Guenaire. Photography by Ludovic Balay.]