Rudy Guénaire signs the interior of the Japanese restaurant Matsuri in Paris. The space is located in the 16th arrondissement and occupies about 200 square meters. The French designer seems to have been guided by the restaurant’s menu that combines Japanese cuisine and Californian flavors. To design the interiors, Guénaire drew on Japonisme, that irresistible attraction that the West feels towards the design of the Land of the Rising Sun. The heart of the Matsuri is the traditional kaiten, the conveyor belt on which the various sushi courses come out. “I used wood everywhere because in Japan everything is made of wood. I chose cheerful, very American color bases, and then I subtly desaturated them to get closer to the Japanese aesthetic,” explained Guénaire.

The designer did not only design the interior of the restaurant, but also the chairs that are reminiscent of those found in traditional Izakaya, Japanese pubs. The walls of Matsuri, which is part of a chain of restaurants founded in 1986 by a French-Japanese couple, are also decorated with suggestive vintage posters arriving directly from Japan. “Who knows,” said Ruy, “perhaps the final meaning of Japonisme lies here, in bringing to mind the memory of the past” (photo by Ludovic Balay).