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Frevo
By : Rockwell Group
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 17th edition
Discipline : Interior Design
Categories : Accommodation, Restaurant & Bar / Restaurant > 1,600 sq.ft. (> 500 sq. m.) : Gold Certification
Concealed behind an art gallery, Frevo is an intimate restaurant from Brazilian Chef Franco Sampogna, built around an open kitchen that serves a seasonal, modern French tasting menu. The restaurant opened in 2019 in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Sampogna and co-owner Bernardo Silva tapped Rockwell Group to refresh the dining room’s interior, while maintaining the elements that guests have come to expect and love, for their reopening and new art exhibition.
Rockwell Group added warmth and a unique, elevated atmosphere to Frevo’s secluded dining room with rich, saturated colors, touches of wood, sumptuous caramel leather, dark stone accents, and a new lighting strategy in collaboration with L’Observatoire International. Subtle changes to the street-facing gallery space help to further conceal the door to the culinary hideaway and maintain the speakeasy, anticipatory feel of the entrance.
Originally, guests entered Frevo through a door in the gallery concealed by a large painting; the seam of the door stood out during openings and art shows. Rockwell Group added colored reveals that panelize the wall system around the room and allow the door to blend in.
Inside the dining room, we painted the previously white ceiling the same rich, moody teal as the existing walls to create a more immersive atmosphere. We then replaced a gridded wine wall with charcoal tambour wood that conceals a closet and surrounds a new, smaller backlit wine case that better showcases the wine. A polished cappuccino-colored stone accent underneath the wine cabinet adds luxury, while the tambour creates a unified look as it continues underneath.
A walnut bar top and glowing metal mesh bar die add a softer, warmer finish to the 16-seat, C-shaped counter surrounding the open kitchen. Upholstered bar stools were replaced with caramel leather, which was also used for a banquette. Textured leather wall paneling was added in the same teal color as the rest of the space. A curved wood portal leads to the restrooms and back of house. Sconces above the bar add luxurious light.
Collaboration
