#éphémère
overview
éphémère is a French cuisine restaurant, which is inspired by the Symbolism art movement and specifically by Charles Baudelaire’s poetry. The notion of juxtaposition in Baudelaire’s symbolism poems—both beauty and ugliness, life and death—greatly influences the visual identity of this restaurant. This restaurant provides a safe and private space with a Gothic aesthetic for its customers to be weird—means it is not necessary to follow the social norms and conventions here when they’re having meals.
project duration
April – may 2019
Restaurant Branding + Photography
methods + tools
Desk research | Adobe Photoshop | Adobe Illustrator | Adobe Lightroom
the beauty of
decadence,
death and eroticism——
the symbolism
The signage outside of the restaurant.
The exterior of the restaurant
The logo on the window.
#logo_design
Éphémère is a French word that means ephemera, a kind of insect that has a very short life span. The insect motif suggests that nothing is everlasting, and its body is substituted by a vertical eye, which corresponds to the Gothic pessimism and morbid eroticism among the symbolism art movement. The vintage texture of both wordmark and logo reinforces the sense of fading and vanishing.
#color_palette
C60 M70 Y65 K75
R44 G29 B28
HEX#2C1D1C
C30 M100 Y75 K30
R146 G13 B43
HEX#920D2B
C35 M10 Y20 K0
R177 G206 B205
HEX#B1CECD
C10 M5 Y8 K0
R234 G238 B235
HEX#EAEEEB
C35 M65 Y50 K0
R178 G109 B108
HEX#B26D6C
#pattern
The patterns used in éphémère restaurant combine the image of rose and handwriting. Overlay the collage of hand-writing related to Baudelaire (one of the pioneers in Symbolism art movement) with a pattern of writhed rose; it is used for wallpaper, napkin and facade painting outside the restaurant.
#table_utensils
éphémère restaurant uses vintage silver table utensils. The logos of éphémère restaurant are embossed on to the silver forks and knives. There is a line from Baudelaire’s poetry embossed on the edge of each plate. The napkin is a dark red with an embroidered rose pattern.
