Emirati studio VSHD Design has completed a dark and dramatic interior for a restaurant in The Dubai Mall, featuring a pared-back palette of natural materials chosen to reflect Japanese minimalism.
Origami is a sushi restaurant, whose first outpost opened in Dubai's Jumeriah neighbourhood in 2014.
VSHD Design has designed the Origami restaurant in The Dubai Mall
For its second branch, the owners asked VSHD Design to create a space that provides a unique experience within the cookie-cutter environment of a shopping mall.
The studio, led by interior architect Rania Hamed, used materials such as textured grey plaster, matte-black tiles and low lighting to create an atmosphere that evokes the underground sushi bars found throughout Japan.
Glass bricks form a low bar in the waiting area "Origami's interior makeover features simple forms in natural materials, and organic shapes reflecting the simplicity and minimalism of traditional Japanese culture," VSHD Design explained.
The interior features monolithic columns and walls informed by the architecture of temples, along with seating covered with draped fabric and textured glass partitions that contribute to the feeling of "intrigue and mystery", the studio said.
Six-metre-thick columns frame the restaurant's entrance
The restaurant is entered through the gaps between a number of six-metre-thick columns, designed to enhance the sense of separation between the mall and the main dining room.
A small retail space o...