2001: A Design Odyssey

 

Vij successfully breaks with more than just Indian practices. The restaurant's 'no reservations' policy and lack of white tablecloths also signal a shift from Vancouver's previously entrenched notions of fine dining. As part of a trend which includes Gastown's Alibi room and new restaurant Zin on Robson, Vij's responds to changing attitudes about dining.

Alibi Room part-owner and designer Christian Loubek believes that, given changing lifestyles, restaurants play an increasingly significant role. Now based in New York, Loubek, a cinematographer, envisioned the first Alibi room in Seattle, and subsequent Vancouver location in the fall of 1997, as meeting the needs of people like himself. "All my friends are free-lancers, people who don't necessarily have a corporate work environment like they did in say the 50s and 60s. There is no water cooler, there's no environment for people to sit around and gossip, so it has fallen to restaurants to foot the bill for creating community".

To encourage such an atmosphere, Loubek ignored nay-sayers and introduced communal tables and a spare aesthetic in the high ceilinged main space. Loubek explains, "I know it is a cliche, but without anything on the walls and with minimum dressing on the tables it really felt like the place wasn't complete without the patrons. "And, of course, attracting clientele in a competitive market is a central element of the current interest in design.

Another outside influence making a difference in town is San Fransisco based boutique hotelier the Kimpton Group who have a reputation for using design as a marketing tool. Judy Henderson, Vancouver designer of new restaurant/lounge 'Zin' on Robson, their first property outside of the United States, explains the propensity for eye-catching decor, "The initial reaction and interest will pull people through the door. Once you get them in you can impress them with other things." Kimpton recognizes, perhaps more than any corporation in the world, that good design means good business.

As the most Wallpaper magazine-ish design of the present crop, Zin, takes our pre-occupation with the visual world to a new level. "Human beings are visual animals more than anything else. Our senses of hearing, taste, smell are not very developed, but our visual sense is overdeveloped." Henderson asserts, "It is just part of who we are to gravitate towards things that are visual - they affect us more - its just the way we are."

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