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Wednesday, 16 March 2011

Brawn and brains: an enjoyable exercise in non-design

Brawn, which opened a few months ago, is on East London's Columbia Road - home of the Sunday flower market. The look of the restaurant is as simple, unpretentious and enjoyable as the food. A pleasant antidote to the surfeit of design one encounters almost everywhere today.  Obviously it is 'designed' but it's about using what you've got in the existing building, minimal intervention and the use of affordable and second-hand additions. It's the same kind of aesthetic as seen in my earlier blog on Farrow & Ball. Lots of simple, humble materials, re-used furniture, pipes and cables snaking the ceiling in an industrial fashion. In fact my photo manages to make it look more coordinated and schemed than it actually is. But it is great. Every neighborhood should have something like this. 
*Brawn
Picture copyright Kate Jacobs

I loved the plank platters and simple knives too.
And the clams!
Picture copyright Kate Jacobs