Atelier Zébulon Perron draws on metabolist influence for Montreal bistro

A monochrome palette and influences from Japanese metabolism characterise Bistrot à Franky in Montreal, Canada designed by local outfit Atelier Zébulon Perron. The restaurant is a home base for local chef Francis Blais in the city’s hip Mile End neighbourhood. Atelier Zébulon Perron 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. For studio founder Zebulon Perron, the monochrome whites and beiges, interspersed with milled aluminium accents and a large zinc bar top, allowed the studio to experiment with textures and lighting to create visual interest and contrast in the dining space. “With the monochromy of the restaurant, we experimented with textures – shiny versus matte, tile nd and stucco – and how light reacts to those surfaces in different ways,” Perron told Dezeen. The studio emphasised the postmodern and “retrofuturist” elements of the design, pointing to the custom chandeliers with their illuminated Pyrex tubes and exposed wiring, fabricated by Perron’s long-time collaborators, local lighting design studio Lambert & Fils. Perron highlighted the milled aluminium wine cellar that sits above the bar face, interspersed with portholes that are a direct reference to Japanese metabolist architecture. “There’s a postmodern, 1980s aesthetic that naturally rose from everything we were doing,” said Perron. Visitors enter the restaurant through a red-painted hallway and a metal door and handle carved from butcher block by local cabinetmaker Olivier Doray. Inside, only the terrazzo floor was a holdover from the building’s former use. Granite tabletops cover some of the larger tables, while the classic bistrot white tablecloths are draped over the smaller tables. Blond leather banquettes were placed below large mirrors on the wall opposite the bar, and these larger seating arrangements are centred by large butcher block tables, also fabricated by Doray. Custom walnut chairs were designed by local industrial designer Guillaume Sasseville. On the walls, white tile is interspersed with stucco and works of art, curated by local filmmaker Xavier Dolan. These artworks give pops of colour and Perron said that the monochromatic design elements allow both the food and the artworks to stand out in the space. “Since the canvas is pretty neutral, the food and the artwork take centre stage,” he said. A set of windows opens up the kitchen space to the dining room. Custom bar seating features white columns with seats informed by transportation design, and Perron noted that the metal details and clean lines of the bar space, as well as the metal fans, also give the interior a streamlined look. Atelier Zébulon Perron has designed some of the most interesting interior spaces in the city, including Café Constance and the dining areas for the city’s Four Seasons hotel. It also helped create the pop-up bar staged during the city’s inaugural design week earlier this year. Photography by Alex Lesage Read more