Gingko Bacchus Restaurant

In 2008, GRAFT completed the GINGKO BACCHUS restaurant in Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan Province in China. At the entrance area, a wooden ribbon ceiling and stainless-steel intarsia of the floor pattern evoke a sense of flow which guides the guests to an open dining and show cooking area.

The walls of the hallway feature large photographic reinterpretations of traditional Dutch still-life paintings. These images are placed behind one-way mirrors equipped with time-controlled back-lighting that makes it possible to highlight or fade out certain aspects of the images. The entire hallway changes in slow motion, the light fading gradually causing the image to appear and disappear in between the reflections of the guests.

Bacchus (or Dionysus), the god of wine and ecstasy from antique mythology, elevates food to the realm of cult. Each of the eight private dining rooms features a famous painting of Bacchus – for example, Caravaggio’s depiction of Bacchus as a young “Boy with a Fruit Basket”, or the “Triumph of Bacchus” by Velázquez – but in an abstracted, pixelated laser-cut out on stainless steel.

But the highlight of the restaurant is the food itself: an intriguing fusion of international cuisine with Chinese influences, enhanced by the famous flavors of the Ginkgo Restaurant Group. GRAFT’s work also included the entire graphic design of the restaurant, from the wallpapers to the menus.