A restaurant owner wanted to set up a street food café, and approached me to create a design for them.

 

It was to serve banh mi and Vietnamese coffees, so would lie somewhere between a café and a street food-style restaurant. 

 

The bistro was to be a blend of traditional, authentic Vietnamese details, with a contemporary colour palette and design. The owner shared images of traditional Vietnamese marking adverts – stencilled names and numbers of different companies – painted or sprayed on the walls. This tied together Bristol and Vietnam perfectly, and so the design concept evolved from this. 

 

Along with traditional Vietnamese materials and techniques, we wove in contemporary colours and finishes. The café counter was designed to be a unique take on both traditional Vietnam and contemporary design. We had to pack a lot of kit into a very small area, so space planning was key to ensuring it would work well for both staff and customers.

 

It was many moons ago I travelled through Vietnam, but sitting in the Banh Mi café on North St, Bristol took me back, and it’s been amazing to hear all the positive comments from the owners, staff and customers alike.