Atelier Zébulon Perron Turns Montreal Bistro Formula Monochrome

Atelier Zébulon Perron has completed Bistrot à Franky, a monochrome restaurant in Montreal's Mile End neighbourhood for local chef Francis Blais, drawing on Japanese metabolist architecture and what the studio calls a postmodern, 1980s aesthetic.

The local studio took what it views as the standard design language of a Montreal bistro — bright lighting and lots of activity — and translated it into a more contemporary design. The question any such makeover raises is practical: what does this change for the diner? On Perron's account, quite a lot of the visual load shifts from décor to plate and wall.

What does the monochrome palette actually do?

Studio founder Zébulon Perron chose monochrome whites and beiges, interspersed with milled aluminium accents and a large zinc bar top. He said the restricted palette let the studio experiment with textures and lighting to build visual interest and contrast in the dining space.

"With the monochromy of the restaurant, we experimented with textures – shiny versus matte, tile and stucco – and how light reacts to those surfaces in different ways," Perron told Dezeen.

The studio emphasised postmodern and "retrofuturist" elements. Custom chandeliers with illuminated Pyrex tubes and exposed wiring were fabricated by Perron's long-time collaborators, Montreal lighting design studio Lambert & Fils.

Where does the metabolist reference sit?

Perron highlighted a milled aluminium wine cellar above the bar face, interspersed with portholes that he described as a direct reference to Japanese metabolist architecture.

"There's a postmodern, 1980s aesthetic that naturally rose from everything we were doing," said Perron.

Who made what?

Visitors enter through a red-painted hallway and a metal door with a handle carved from butcher block by local cabinetmaker Olivier Doray. Doray also fabricated the large butcher block tables that centre the banquettes.

Inside, only the terrazzo floor survived from the building's former use. Other elements include:

• Granite tabletops on larger tables; classic white bistrot tablecloths on smaller ones
• Blond leather banquettes below large mirrors opposite the bar
• Custom walnut chairs by local industrial designer Guillaume Sasseville
• White tile interspersed with stucco and artworks curated by filmmaker Xavier Dolan
• A set of windows opening the kitchen to the dining room
• Custom bar seating on white columns, with seats informed by transportation design

Perron said the artworks supply pops of colour and that the monochrome ground lets both food and art carry the room — "Since the canvas is pretty neutral, the food and the artwork take centre stage," he said. Metal details, clean lines and metal fans give the bar area a streamlined look, according to the designer. Whether guests read the metabolist portholes as architecture or as decoration, the studio does not say.

Atelier Zébulon Perron has produced several of the city's notable interiors, including Café Constance and the dining areas of Montreal's Four Seasons hotel, and helped create the pop-up bar staged during the city's inaugural design week earlier this year. Bistrot à Franky now becomes the studio's latest test of how far the Montreal bistro formula can be stripped back before it stops reading as a bistro at all.