Paris Influences The Bancroft

Eleven years ago, Jed and Asia Webber honeymooned in Paris, and have since yearned to return.  Three kids, two restaurants, and one catering company later, research for The Bancroft was a perfect excuse to get back to Europe!

Last year, our designer, Peter Niemitz returned from the Paris Design Show with an abundance of inspiration for The Bancroft.  This is what led Jed and Asia to start in the posh arts district in the 6th arrondissement, around the L’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts (National School of Fine Arts).  There they found incredible art galleries and loads of high-end furniture stores.  This was the place to see the creme-de-la-creme, at astronomical prices.  They took that inspiration to the flea markets to find pieces that a typical person could afford!

Walking nearly ten miles a day, they tucked into hundreds of shops and market stalls.  One trend they noticed was the popularity of mechanical antiques. They saw many scientific instruments used to make interesting and intricate lamps and art pieces.

Some items were too fragile to risk shipping to the United States. Asia has been busy sourcing similar items here at home. Restoration Hardware, a company which gets much of its design inspiration from the Paris flea markets, has made a line of lights that mimic the look and feel of the chemistry cloche lamps.

Our designer, Peter, wanted a rough-hewn table for one of our buffet tables to add a bit of rustic contrast to the finer, more elegant dining furnishings.   Where Gibbet Hill Grill and Scarlet Oak Tavern have a more consistent design aesthetic, this restaurant is a mix of many different styles and eras, all curated and selected to give the space a lot of visual interest.

Aside from furniture and art shopping, Jed and Asia spent a lot of time at restaurants and cafes, soaking in the subtle service flourishes that make a great Parisian cafe so inviting and comfortable.  They especially loved the walk-up bar in a brasserie that encourages conversation over a quick coffee or glass of wine.  There are plans to incorporate that type of mid-day service at the bar in The Bancroft.

A recurring theme reinforced during their trip, was that there are easy opportunities for social interaction and taking a “restorative” at cafes and brasseries throughout the city at all times of the day.  Asia quipped, “It makes the day so much more civilized!”

Funky & punky, mathematical & chemical…Asia Webber discusses some of her inspiration for the artwork you can expect to find at The Bancroft, opening in the spring of 2014.

I have been having a blast shopping for artwork for The Bancroft.  Finding unique vintage works on paper is something I love to do in my own home, and I have found some real gems for the restaurant.   My personal design aesthetic leans toward the 60s/70s era.  While this isn’t the overall vibe of the restaurant, I am looking to mix in some funky artwork from that period with more traditional and classical furnishings to punch up the volume and make the space interesting and unique.

I have been spending a lot of time shopping auction houses to find these great pieces at a good value.  Auctions are one of my favorite ways to shop for art.  I love finding great pieces that need reframing to bring them back to life.  For instance, for the Scarlet Oak Tavern I sourced over 180 pieces of artwork, ranging from 19^th century European oil paintings to gilded Victorian canning labels to 18^th century etchings.  I found an incredible antique book at an antique shop with hundreds of hand-colored plates of various fungi.

The mushroom art pieces are featured throughout the restaurant and are really incredible and intricate.  For this project I am looking for edgier, more colorful, larger scale pieces to decorate the 19-1/2’ high walls of The Bancroft.  A couple key finds so far- a set of vintage Sex Pistols “God Save the Queen” art posters by Jamie Reid.  So cool.  This image is the iconic image of the punk rock era.  If I can bring a little punk rock vibe to The Bancroft, I think we will all enjoy it that much more….

I also loved finding these James Rosenquist pieces from his High Technology series.  The Bancroft is sited in the middle of the hi-tech corridor of Burlington, surrounded by places like iRobot, pharmaceutical and medical companies, and Oracle.  I think our customers with science and engineering backgrounds will be attracted to the mathematical and chemical imagery Rosenquist used in his collages.  I think they are very alluring and dynamic.