ELKA'S
I met Elka Gilmore, through a mutual friend. She was a part owner of Oodles Restaurant in San Francisco having had a lustrous career as a chef at the Myako Hotel for her Asian Fusion Cuisine. Elka wanted to upgrade her menu and it was my first SF restaurant so I was excited to work along side of her. She had a limited budget and an even more limited installation period. It was a challenge! The existing lighting was cafeteria terrible…all-over lit fluorescent that had no place in an upscale restaurant. I remember lying awake at might wondering how I could transform the lighting on a limited budget and decided to scrap the ceiling altogether.. I called the inspector and asked him if I could hang what is called ‘festoon lighting’ and he agreed as long as the outlets were visible. We painted the ceiling dark, hung wires and cables everywhere andI hired a local team of iron workers to produce delicate individual frames for the ‘Chinese-to-go’ inspired lanterns in four designs. The look of a nighttime Shanghai outdoor market place, was acquired by commissioning wall murals, irregular sandstone slab floors and of course the candle light glow of the lanterns by using backlit banana leaf paper. The sound of a waterfall dropping off the main table into the floor, patchwork silk awnings and broken bottle mosaic at the bar, all added to an artsy dining experience..
Photos by Paul Kagawa