How do you think great food and interior design are linked?

We believe these are important factors for having a successful restaurant concept: the design can bring people inside and make them feel good, but the food is the real treat and that is what will make people come back.

What has been your most challenging project to date and why?

One of the most interesting and stimulating projects we made was NOR – Sky Casual Restaurant, a 250 seats restaurant at the last floor of Bucharest’s tallest building.
The restaurant is located at 130 meters above the ground and we faced several challenges in finishing the design work. As we were dealing with an extremely tall and a one-of-a-kind building in Bucharest, safety and construction regulations were strict. But we managed to create one of our best projects, so it was worth the effort!

What was the first food and beverage space you designed?

We started our restaurant interior design journey 5 years ago with Stadio, a restaurant in downtown Bucharest, which quickly became a landmark for smart-casual diners and cool places in town. In the past 5 years we completed over 80 interior design projects, ranging from take-aways to restaurants, offices and shops.

What design challenges are unique to hospitality, food and beverage space design?

We like to create the functional spaces first, kitchen areas are very important and so is the bar area. We believe that in order for a restaurant to work, its infrastructure must be top notch. Also, this is a fast-evolving market and coming up with new concepts is not an easy job.

Which flooring brands were used? What made this products to stand out from the crowd?

Two by Trickshot is the second project of an entertainment concept which gathers under the same brand a restaurant with an open kitchen, a coffee place, bowling alley, pool and darts games. We created the first Trickshot concept in 2014 and now we got to do a spinoff for a new place. The main idea of the brand is to have all these diverse functions blended together. We didn’t want to have functions separated, because this was neither a classic restaurant, nor a classic bowling alley. We “tricked” the consumer into having dinner next to the bowling lanes.
Two by Trickshot builds on this idea and adds a more industrial touch, suited to the area of the city.

Tell us more about the architectural concept of Two by Trickshot.

For Two by Trickshot we used LVT tiles from Gerflor for the restaurant area and Milliken carpet for the bowling and pool area. We wanted a stone-like finishing for the restaurant area, a neutral aspect, but also a functional product. Restaurants are very busy and natural stone ore raising tend to wear off. Another advantage was installation times, which were much faster than anything else. We wanted to use a Watercolour collection from Milliken to have a floor that is comfortable, non-linear and sound absorbent, for the bowling and pool areas.

What are some current trends you’re seeing when it comes to hospitality?

Hospitality is for us a fast-pace industry. The restaurants that were cool last year may easily be forgotten and new concepts seem to emerge every week. We see the industrial interior design at a peak, but new trends like 40s and 60s influences are starting to emerge.

What are your thoughts on the importance of floor coverings in interior design today?

We used flooring in two ways: either to reinforce an idea or to highlight an area of the space, or as a blending surface that satisfies technical usage. We look at the acoustics of the material, resistance in time and overall costs.