Nobu57: Part One

 

Although mural are our focus, we also do a significant amount of 3D / sculptural projects as well.  One of the more exciting projects that we worked on this summer here at Silver Hill Atelier was creating a couple of spectacular art features for the restaurant "Nobu57" in New York City.  The artworks we created for the restaurant are four 'Abalone Chandaliers', featured in this post, and a 'Sea Urchin Spine' ceiling which we created for the private dining area of the restaurant - a very intense installation that I will talk more about in another post.

The original New York Nobu (which we also created artwork for) is a downtown / TriBeCa Institution. At Nobu57, Chef Nobu Matsuhisa is seeking to replicate the magic for the uptown crowd.  Early indications are (not suprisingly) quite favorable.

Like the original Nobu, this restaurant, and the art features we created for it, were designed by the Rockwell Group, a firm that specializes in architecture which is truly creative, often unusual, typically hand-crafted, and always unique.

The Rockwell Group was familiar with hand-strung Czech glass bead mural we created for Rocco's restaurant, which contained over 120,000 individual glass beads,so when they came up with a design for their abalone chandeliers that would incorporate more than 19,000 shells, they knew who to call.

For a more detailed look at how we created the chandeliers, and what they looked like when complete, read on....

The above picture shows two of four abalone shell chandeliers we created for the restaurant.  As you can see, the shells are clustered in groupings which were to suggest both "schools of fish", and the wave motif which makes many other appearances throughout the restaurant.

Each chandelier consists of two of these clusters, one high, and one low, below.  Each chandelier is 8' in length, and has a 'depth' of 5 rows of abalone shells.  In order to create these wave shapes, and keep them consistent across the five rows, we strung the abalone shells on long tables in our studio.  On top of the table, we had a brown paper template that showed us our wave pattern to follow.  In the background of this picture you can see completed rows of shells which have been rolled into cylinder-like bundles.  (click thumbnails for an enlarged view)

The installation of the abalone shells was a surprisingly simple process.  We would bring a rolled bundle to the ceiling using a scissor lift.  At the ceiling, we attached the bar the shells hung from to a box we had hung previously in the ceiling.  Then, one person lowered the lift as the other person held the bundle which slowly unrolled as the lift went down.  We had taped the strands of shells to our brown paper backing for safe transport, so the last step was to cut away the brown paper.

The end result was quite spectacular - it's one of the most visible decor features of the restaurant when you are walking by on 57th Street.  They hang over the bar / lounge area of the restaurant, and are sure to be a topic of conversation amongst the crowds lucky enough to get a reservation.

Update:  Metropolis Magazine did a cover story on the restaurant in their January, 2006 issue featuring some great new pictures of our work.  You can still access it online here.