Rudy Guénaire designs Paris PNY restaurant as an ode to modernist California

Creative director Rudy Guénaire has completed an interior in Paris for his own restaurant, inspired by the iconic modernist interiors and colours of California.

The interior is the first that self-taught designer Guénaire has created for his PNY (Paris New York) brand, which has seven burger restaurants and aims to reinvent the American-style diner aesthetic.

Located within the Reims region of Paris, PNY sits within the modernist market building named Halle du Boulingrin, originally built in 1929 by architect Émile Maigrot and restored in 2012.

"The building's curves are gentle, and the ceiling heights are spectacular," Guénaire told Dezeen. "It's undeniably impressive, but it's also a lot of concrete. I felt it was important to soften the space and bring in warmth."

Alternating dark and light wood panelling clad the seven-metre-high walls, whilst large strips of sunshine-yellow fabric – designed to resemble rays of sun – hang from the ceiling and bring texture to the vast space.

"It's challenging to make people feel truly cosy in such a tall space, and that was the main hurdle. I wanted everyone to fully enjoy the extraordinary natural light offered by those lofty ceilings, while also feeling comfortable and at ease," Guénaire said.

"I also wanted to respect this magical place and engage gently with its original architect and its era," he added.

Dark wood panelling and cabinetry were specially selected as a nod to iconic houses of the 1920s and California, notably by designers Charles and Ray Eames and architect Rudolph Schindler.

The interior, which the designer described as an "ode to modernist California", also references architect Frank Lloyd Wright's use of corner windows, as mirrored panels wrap around columns and walls, further softening the space.

Colour is used gently and with intention at PNY. Alongside the sunny yellow hanging fabric on the ceiling, a turquoise swimming pool blue was also used across the space, including on a wall near the entrance and on the lacquered panel seating dividers.

"I wanted warm rays of sunshine and a lagoon-blue, a swimming-pool blue," Guénaire said. "For me, it's the colour of carefree, sunlit days, the quintessential Californian blue."

Guénaire, who designed the chairs for his previous project, the Matsuri restaurant in Paris, also designed the Wavy chair especially for the space.

The chrome cantilever chair features gentle undulations, which Guénaire chose to reference "the golden curls of California surfers."

Guénaire also designed custom lighting for the space, including aluminium lamps which hover above the seating partitions. The lamps have been designed with many small holes that cast a dappled light across the dining space.

"By day, the space is bright and vibrant; by night, it feels warm and gentle, almost like candlelight," Guénaire said.

There are also custom square bar lights that hang from the restaurant's high ceilings, as well as three large orange ball lights which, according to Guénaire, "spin like orange stars."

Other burger restaurant interior projects featured on Dezeen include a Japanese inspired burger bar in Geneva and a restaurant in Kuwait featuring a large steeped roof.

The photography is by Ludovic Balay.

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