Zizzi opens new London branch with art and ceramics

The project is the latest stage in a national Zizzi initiative which invites emerging practitioners to create designs reflecting the locality of each restaurant.

In an effort to mirror a piazza outside the restaurant, Rigler has created an illuminated tree, which has been installed inside with porcelain detailing on its branches.

Ceramics used on the facade of the Central St Giles building, designed by architect Renzo Piano, are a reference point for the material which creeps up the tree as a ‘ceramic vine.’ The material is used across chefs’ tabletops and as buttons on a sofa.

Rousseau (pictured) has created illustrations on two walls and up a stairwell, depicting the locality through hand-painted maps applied to a blackboard material with acrylics. 

‘I wanted it to be very literal and very illustrative,’ says Rousseau, who has researched street maps of the area – some dating back to 1500.

Illustrator Lizzie Mary Cullen has worked across many of the other  Zizzi spaces across the country. Helen Jones, managing director at Zizzi, says the remaining spaces will all be redesigned in the next 12 months.