Design studio GamFratesi looked to historic Greek vases when creating the interior of Epicurus, a restaurant and jazz club in Copenhagen, which features smoked oak wood inlays and custom-made lighting.
The hospitality space, located in central Copenhagen, was named for the Greek philosopher Epicurus and was designed as a “culinary and musical house”, according to the studio.
Comprising a 250-square-metre restaurant and a 150-square-metre jazz club, Epicurus’ features wood-panelled walls that create an intimate atmosphere.
GamFratesi preserved and repainted the original panels in the restaurant space and added new smoked-oak wood panelling in the jazz club.
The wood panelling was produced locally, GamFratesi co-founder Enrico Fratesi told Dezeen.
“We smoked the oak together with a local craftsman, aiming for a slightly lighter tone than the industrial smoked oak, which is often very dark and has a more uniform, artificial finish,” he explained.
“Ours retains a more natural look and feel. Instead of industrial lacquers, we treated the wood with oil, in the tradition of Danish craftsmanship.”
The panelling in the jazz club section reaches three metres high, up to the windows of the six-metre-tall space, which used to be a military gymnasium for the Danish Queen’s guards.
It was decorated with playful images of dancers and musicians, for which GamFratesi drew inspiration from historic Greek pottery.
“At GamFratesi, we really enjoy creating designs that have a handcrafted or drawing-like quality,” explained co-founder Stine Gam.
“That’s why we looked at ancient vases and many of those free, organic shapes combined with stylised human figures, depicting scenes of dancing, music, and shared enjoyment, turning the ancient concept into a contemporary narrative.”
The studio also designed a series of pictures of vases, which decorate the walls of the restaurant.
“Greek pottery, in general, includes a wide variety of types and forms,” Fratesi said. “What fascinated us in particular was the way a single silhouette can be repeated with slightly different proportions each time.”
“We experimented with the handles, the mouth, and the overall shape of the vase to create a more free and expressive language, while still maintaining a strong connection to tradition,” he added.
GamFratesi’s hand drawings were digitised and used to create precise cuts in the wood veneer, after which the inlay was completed by hand using the classic marquetry technique.
As well as wood, Epicurus features a number of travertine details. GamFratesi chose the stone as the designers felt it “was a material strongly connected to ancient history”.
“Beyond that, it also has a natural structure and a visual language that isn’t too aggressive – it feels balanced and subtle,” Gam explained.
White and grey travertine were combined to create a console that makes the transition from the restaurant space to the jazz club, which also features the stone in the form of a wood-and-travertine bar.
“We used three different types of travertine: one for the console and another for the bar, each chosen to maintain a dialogue with the spirit of ancient times – not necessarily Greco-Roman, but more broadly inspired by antiquity – while being interpreted through a contemporary design lens,” Fratesi explained.
The jazz club has an acoustic ceiling and GamFratesi added upholstered furniture to help dampen sound, such as the studio’s own Violin Chair and Beetle Chair by Danish brand Gubi.
Gam and Fratesi also custom-made the lighting for the space, together with lighting brand Lyfa. This includes glass wall sconces, table lamps and cone-shaped pendants.
Epicurus is GamFratesi’s first club design.
“Some time ago, we worked on a project that also explored the relationship between music and dining,” Gam said.
“However in that case, our intervention was more limited, as the space was already defined architecturally. So, in a way, this is actually the first real ‘jazz club’ we have designed entirely from scratch – our first venue of this kind.”
Other recent Copenhagen restaurants featured on Dezeen include a space designed to mimic a “home dining” experience and a restaurant with panels made from leftover beer.
The photography is by Emil Vendelbo Stegemejer.
