Pearlescence helps restaurant designers serve up success

When it comes to designing restaurants, Boston-based CKI Design Studio has one overriding goal: To make the hostess feel comfortable seating customers at every table. “We make sure that every sightline is beautiful,” says Sybil CooperKing, Operations Director of the firm.

We sit in every single seat to ensure that someone doesn’t have a bad experience because of the design.

One of the ways they achieve their goal is through the use of Pearlescence. Why do they specify this decorative surface material so often? “There is nothing else quite like it,” says Design Director Jerome CooperKing, noting the color pallet and range of finishes of this high-pressure laminate.

He particularly appreciates its shine, depth, and texture as well as the reflective quality of it. And he has one more reason:

With every project, I want a material that guests want to touch, Pearlescence is one of those materials.

Because of these unique qualities, he finds that Pearlescence works in a wide number of environments. A recent project, Eleven Forty Nine Restaurant, demonstrates how the unique attributes of Pearlescence contribute to creating a unique dining experience.

Eleven Forty Nine: Turning the quest for the Big Sky into the big idea

The challenge here was rather simple. Design a modern steakhouse. “Most steakhouses tend to be masculine,” says Jerome, “but our client wanted something more feminine, with a comfortable, intimate feeling. And they wanted a flagship.” But there were some challenges to this goal, namely lower ceilings and larger rooms, which he directly addressed with his design.

I got to thinking about the big sky country, and I thought, why not be literal about it?

CooperKing chose Lamin-Art’s 2414 Corundum Blue for the ceiling above the bar and ornamented it with suspended crystals. As a result, the ceiling became the focal point of the restaurant, and the rest of the design centered around that element.

The combination of the crystals, high-gloss finish, and deep blue color recreates the ambiance of starlight at dusk.

“You’re forced to look right at them,” says Jerome. “The restaurant is talking about their ceiling quite a bit in their marketing materials, because it is one of the key design features. And they’ve won design awards for it.”

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