We were commissioned by Chicos Tbilisi, a new gastronomic project that wanted to make big changes in a quite traditional restaurant scene in Georgia.

The brief was to create bright, colourful and juicy interiors that would make Chicos the most instagrammable restaurant in Tbilisi. Spoiler alert, it happened: Chicos quickly became the most spoken about place with more than 3000 visitors every month (restaurant has 18 seats only). 

Our team decided to create a transformational space that would be 1) a bright breakfast cafe in the morning with a fresh magazines corner, 2) lunch and aperetif bistro during the day and 3) a romantic fine-dining restaurant later in the evening. It all became true and real thanks for the selected place with 6 meters tall ceilings and huge windows, the right zoning, furniture that we have created ourselves, light staging and sound design. 

The space itself is divided into beige and red parts (the only colours used at Chicos). In fact, it gave Chicos’ clients flexibility: most of them choose where they’d like to seat while making reservation. We believe combination of these 2 very contrary colours gave the space dynamism and diversity. 

What’s more, we have designed all furniture at Chicos: tables, chairs, sink etc. Rounded and toy-like furniture balances well with quite brutalist cement walls that we decided to keep partially. Since the ceilings are very high (and we love them for bringing so much air and light) we wanted to bring some coziness as well. That’s why there’s a second layer of the wall – panels that go all around the restaurant and devide visually the space and create that comfort. 

There’s no ceiling lighting used at Chicos – only led lighting that goes around the restaurant on the 2nd wall panels and it creates a soft and romantic lighting that we need to be able to transform the space into a romantic one. What’s more, we have created a glass brick wall that works as a soft light box.

The harmonious beauty of contrasting brutalist Soviet Union building’s textures and new soft, polished materials was our goal. Based on the brand’s mission to become an “it” place for arts, fashion and cultural intelligencia, the space is created for young consumers with open mind, passionate about beauty and hedonism.