Project name: HONG 0871 Yunnan Cuisine Restaurant
Interior design: IN.X
Chief designer: Wei Wu
Design team: Chenyang Liu, Qifeng Jia, Chenjuan Jia, Zheguang Ying
Lighting design: Haiyan Zhu
Project location: Shanghai, China
Project area: 860m2
Project photography: Yan Zheng
Project planning: Lele brand strategy agency
HONG 0871, the exquisite Yunnan cuisine restaurant was opened in Wusong Road, Shanghai, China. Designed by Wei Wu, the Design Director of IN.X, it officially marked the expansion of Yunnan cuisine in Shanghai, after its initial successful entry into the Beijing market. The reserved “wild and refined” menu of Xin Liu, the founder of HONG 0871, will also be tested by the picky diners in the magical city of Shanghai. As the first show in the new market, Wei Wu never takes the usual way.
01 Designer said
Simmer the color, flavor, and taste into the space
Yongping Braised Chicken, Binchuan Pickled Cabbage with Red Bean and Skinned Meat, Rosin Flavor Roast Duck, Hand-Shredded Ham with Fermented Cheese, Crispy Meat Buns with Soy Sauce and Mushrooms, Water Soaked Hotcake…all are the specialty on Hong 0871’s menu. As a Yunnan cuisine chef, Xin Liu has never lacked the inspiration for new dishes. However, as the brand manager, Shanghai HONG 0871’s appearance is a bit vague.
Yunnan and Shanghai are totally different cities. The former is mysterious and the latter is prosperous; one is hidden in the mountains and forests and the other is modern and magnificent; one is magical because of abundance, while the other is rich because of magic. When introducing Yunnan cuisine to Shanghai, the designer decided to simmer the color, flavor, and tastes into the space. It is not only the color, flavor, and tastes of Yunnan cuisine but also the vibrant and passionate everyday life of Shanghai.
Through the ingenious interaction of rammed earth, wood, stone, and metal, the styles of primitive roughness, simplicity, modernity, and elegance are supported in the space. They are integrated as a whole, and they become independent chapters in the harmony of space. When night comes, HONG 0871 merges with the city of Shanghai, without losing its own feature.
02 Space set
Create a hustle and bustle dining repertoire
In HONG 0871, the drama opens with a dazzling performance, in which the wine cellar bar area and the corridor are divided with a clear distinction of materials, and the visual division clearly defines the transformation of space and mood. The one-piece brass bar and nostalgic rough gray terrazzo form the bar area with a strong contemporary sense. The bright array of wine cellars is like a huge modern sculpture, in which the brass lines and lights run horizontally and vertically. The urban dynamics and power can be accumulated and released here.
The curtain falls and rises again, and the public dining area is an interspersed narrative of ancient memories and modern plots. Half is the simple and charming red rammed earth, another half is the modern cladding inside the arc, thus, the whole area is cleverly balanced in elegance and nostalgia The black terrazzo and curtain outline the arc-shaped seating area with a clear sense of rhythm, which corresponds to the ancient elegance of the rammed earth wall. The conflict and blending of materials in the limited space portrays completely different scenes in a long time, which is belonging to Yunnan, Shanghai, the past, and the future.
Emotions and stories condense into stillness and feeling the moment they enter the tea room. When the sunlight pours in, it penetrates through the wooden trellis sliding door, the thin gauze curtain, the oily rustic wooden floor, and the mottled ceiling. The last footnote is written on the long and narrow dining table and contemporary art paintings, where the previous complex strong emotions are unified, and the stories of yesterday happen to meet contemporary aesthetics to become self-consistent here, forming a more inclusive new place.
As the repertoire comes to an end, the crowd turns into a private space, where the lights are dim and the night is cool and refreshing. Outside the window, it is real life in Shanghai, but in this scene of HONG 0871, it is also a wonderful background of the hustle and bustle of city life.
03 Strategic dining
Achieve magic by magic
For Wu Wei, it is undoubtedly exciting cooperation with the Yunnan cuisine chef Xin Liu. The chef, who is more focused on the dishes, has entrusted the designer with the strategy customization of the dining space. With years of experience in catering business strategies, the designer has chosen the best way to appear. Compared with traditional catering space design services, the “strategic catering” service of IN.X seems to be going too far, but it is actually an inevitable way to promote the brand through space. If the highest level of cooking can be called magic, then only magic can create magic, so as to create surprises for the brand.
