Last month a wonderful new specialty gourmet market and cafe, Gastronomie 491, opened on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Nicole Ahronee, the proprietress, invited me to design the interiors. It was a collaborative project that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I will be sure to write further about it as well as the origins of my friendship with Nicole. Having a shared background makes for a lively shorthand language when throwing ideas around.
While orange is an essential color in the overall scheme for Gastronomie 491, we went to great lengths to steer away from basic orange and to find the subtleties in a color that is not known for its subtleties. Different variations were used on the storefront awning, the shopping bags, and the seats of the bar stools at the bar counter.
We liked the Corian selection for counter tops throughout the market and assumed we would use it for the tabletops in the café area, but as we pulled together the scheme, Nicole started wondering about other options for the cafe tables. We searched and considered a number of materials, and then Gaye Niver, our rep at JC Furniture, showed us an acrylic product that is completely customizable. Both Nicole and I immediately saw the possibilities. When we found out it came any Benjamin Moore color, the idea of a pale version of the ubiquitous orange came into play.
Nicole and I are very happy with the result. We selected “Jupiter Glow” and it’s the unexpected fresh hit of color we were looking for; indeed the tables do glow with a life of their own! After the tables were delivered to the site, I read that the 2012 Pantone color of the year is “Tangerine Tango” . It’s nice – even in a small way – to be in sync with the design zeitgeist of the moment.
Since then I’ve been keeping an eye out for this fun and exuberant 2012 color trend: sure enough, Sephora is now promoting a campaign for limited edition cosmetics featuring the “color of the year”. I’m not sure how a “Tangerine Tango” lipstick would look on me but I do know these patent leather sandals will give my feet that “glow” – just like those fabulous tables in the café at the back of Gastronomie 491!
