The new generation PizzaExpress in Richmond is a big project that I've been working on all year (I'm leading the creative team).
Our challenge? To come up with ideas for what PizzaExpress restaurants should be like in the future... oh, and then build it as a fully functioning restaurant!
Having had masses of ideas, we've now taken over the large PizzaExpress in Richmond (200 seats!), gutted the building and rebuilt it as an experimental space, to test ideas, try some brave new things and get lots of feedback from people. The plan is for other PizzaExpress restaurants to follow in its footsteps, if people like it.
The brief was to celebrate the skill of authentic handmade pizza and also expand the concept of feeding great conversation. We're trying to reconnect with the pioneering spirit of the founder Peter Boizot who opened the first PizzaExpress in Soho in 1965, and who worked with lots of the artists, musicians and designers of the sixties (like Peter Blake and Enzo Apicella). Throwing some pretty amazing parties by all accounts!
We're an eclectic team. The brilliant Ab Rogers is leading the design (of the Tate, Comme de Garcons and The Rainbow House fame), and in addition to the PizzaExpress team, we've formed a collective of contemporary creative talent.
It includes: italian chef Antonio Romani; singing baker Liliana (who runs the Food Lab); fashion Designer Matthew Miller (juggling us with London Fashion Week); professor of accoustics Sergio Luzzi from Florence; theatre director and conversation expert Karl James; graphic designers GTF (also working on all the graphics for Frieze at the moment); Mumsnet co-founder Carrie Longton; DJ Nick Luscombe (Radio 3 & Resonance FM); games designers Spiral; film and soundscape artist Dominic Robson; Writers Rob & Molly (who have just set up We All Need Words); and artist and designer Enzo Apicella. Enzo, now 88, designed the original PizzaExpress in 1965 and the famous logo. He's painting a huge mural for us (ably assisted by Tom Saunders). I feel very honoured to be working with such diverse and creative bunch of people.
It's definitely NOT the normal corporate way of doing things!
It's been a huge project, and has covered re-looking at everything from design and furniture, crockery and acoustics, opening hours and uniforms, to all the food, wine and service.
We've created a kitchen that's more like a stage. With all the ingredients on show, and pizzaiolos who do acrobatics with the dough (if you flirt with them enough). The restaurant's full of cutting edge accoustics, including conversation booths with domes designed for to create the perfect audio enviroment for talking to one another. Inside you can dim the lights, play your own music by plugging your ipod into the docking station, and if you need serving you just press a light and the dome glows - so no more trying to flag down the waitress to get your bill. Lots of new things on the menu too... personal favourites include breakfast pizza, dough balls with nutella, skinny grape bread, and a seriously hard-core Negroni cocktail (gin, campari & martini rosso on the rocks). [I blame these for the brilliantly insane press night party that didn't finish until well after 4am].
Projections play at either end of the restaurant (currently silently screening a series of 1960s italian films), and a soundscape plays in the loos. The new playlist features artists that explore the boundaries of jazz with other genres - check out Stac for example - and we're planning late night music nights there. We've got a whole new graphic style - including taking the idea of the stripes of the pizzaiolo's shirts and using it in suprising ways (like on our italian cycling caps), and we've created a new typography based on old newpapers which ironically feels much more contemporary. There's an creative area to keep kids happy and quiet (!) with a big shared drawing table, books and interactive games to help teach them about food and ingredients.
The list goes on...
If you want to know more you can see more photos, video clips etc on the project blog:
http://futureexpress.co.uk/
Please do come down to Richmond now it's open, to see what we've done. I'd love to know what you think.
PizzaExpress Richmond, Red Lion Street, TW9 1RE. Open from 8.45am. Free Wi-Fi.
Here are a couple of clips about the project for a film made about it:
Opening night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ks2Q_Nf6oA&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
Nick Luscombe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NaNsNKVplY&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
Karl James:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g6Jwi6Vt4o&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
Jess Blandford:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3n-W_YOwCo
