Crafting a Tonal Accent Wall for Contemporary Japanese Restauraunt, MIZU

Inspired by the wood-fired Robata grills of Japan, Mizu offers a refreshed take on live-fire cooking atop the Hyatt Centric in the heart of Charlotte’s SouthPark neighborhood. Led by the award-winning Indigo Road Hospitality Group, the rooftop restaurant combines the traditions of ancient Japanese cooking with Southern influences and Asian flavors. True to the word Mizu’s translation to ‘water’ in Japanese, the space’s design takes inspiration from natural elements, which are incorporated throughout the chic, minimalist restaurant, and outdoor terrace with sweeping city views. After learning more about the space and what the client wanted to achieve, the designers at Mey & Co and I chose the BABYLON pattern because of its soft, minimalist look and felt that it would compliment the restaurant’s interior and overall ethos. Inspired by the hanging lines of Weeping Willow trees, BABYLON is a non-repeating pattern digitally printed on textured type II commercial-grade, non-woven material (can also be printed on paper or grasscloth upon request).

Typically offered as is, we customized this style by adding felt-stitched accents on top as part of our continued collaboration with C3 Design. Here, the felt adds an additional layer of softness, depth, and emotion to the environment while also adhering to its color story and palette. This piece in particular was custom-colored using the Portola paint chip provided by the designer. What I like most about this project is that it illustrates how, despite being featured in only one portion of the restaurant, a wallcovering like BABYLON can still stand out and be super impactful as accent piece and that my patterns do not always need to be these expansive textures along long walls and surfaces to add a degree of depth and dynamism.

This project also shows that it's possible to strike a balance between being striking without necessarily being loud. Unlike say a project like the mural we created for Google’s NYC headquarters, which relies on bold orange felt strips to pull viewers in and really “pop” out in the space, this BABYLON mural’s strength lies in the fact that it is more tonal, softly alluding to a surface that is emerging from the wall. It manages to have depth and power without calling too much attention to itself. It’s both soft yet energizing at the same time - threading the needle so to speak with a nuanced sensibility that I strive to maintain throughout much of my work. Interestingly enough, this is the second project I have completed for a Hyatt Centric hotel. Previously, my DUNE pattern was featured as part of the bathroom design for the Hyatt Centric in Philadelphia. I also have a 3rd project with Hyatt that will be launching in 2022 - more details to come on that soon! If you’d like to stay up to date with this upcoming project and all other happenings at the studio, be sure to sign up for our newsletter in our footer!

Have a design in mind? Looking to make your space more restorative & inviting? Contact the studio today either via email or by phone at 718-207-9587, we'd love to discuss your next project.