Space NY, Interior, New York, May 2025

Fish Cheeks - Brooklyn

Interior New York, US May 2025

Designing the new Williamsburg location of Fish Cheeks has been a labor of love for the SPACE NY team. The original restaurant was one of the first projects that founding partners Anders Olson and Clay Crider worked together on as SPACE NY. The pro... Designing the new Williamsburg location of Fish Cheeks has been a labor of love for the SPACE NY team. The original restaurant was one of the first projects that founding partners Anders Olson and Clay Crider worked together on as SPACE NY. The project has not only been a return to the beginning, but also an opportunity to look at the original design direction through a new lens with less restrictions. The goal with Fish Cheeks has always been to bring traditional elements of Thai architecture together with a light and modern airiness in order to create a comfortable and inviting space. Many of those traditional details, like the temple roof pattern which has been translated into tiles on the face of the bar, and the wooden paneling that has been painted white on the walls, have been carried over into the new design. Where possible the application of these elements has been done in new and different ways in order to create interest while still giving a nod to the original design. As an example, the wall that separates the dining room and the kitchen using the white wooden panels has had select panels removed completely in order to create a sightline through to the kitchen which has been strategically placed in the front of the restaurant so that the diners are able to experience some of the magic of what happens behind the scenes. In another instance, the ceramic fish lights that hung over the bar in the original space have been translated into brightly colored neon lights that hang as pendants in all white bathrooms, in effect painting the bathrooms with the intense color of the neon lights. The use of bright color and bold patterns is another element that we felt was successful in the original restaurant and wanted to maintain. The front and back dining rooms of the new location make use of very colorful wallpaper as a way to continue with this tradition. Screens made from real Bamboo painted indigo sit in front of the windows casting beautiful shadows across the dining room and provide a modicum of privacy from the busy street outside. A custom brass and glass screen is mounted above the bar adding an additional element of pattern and color and serving to break up the vastness of the 12 foot ceilings without losing the desired open and airy feel. See More

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