Alain Ducasse, the renowned French chef boasting 19 Michelin stars under his toque blanche, inaugurated Brasserie Champeaux in April 2016, with his business partner, Olivier Mauray. Located under La Canopée at the over 800 year old, Forum des Halles, in Paris' 1st arrondissement, this is the first brasserie for Chef Ducasse, who also owns many bistrots and restaurants worldwide.
Inspired by a vintage menu dating back to December 1900, from a restaurant called Champeaux, Chef Ducasse envisioned the quintessential French brasserie: a spacious, welcoming space where people could enjoy delicious, seasonal and informal meals throughout the day. Even with its 1900 inspiration, interestingly Brasserie Champeaux is low on nostalgia but rather high on 21st century sensibilities. Paris-based design studio, ciguë, translated Ducasse’s vision on the corner of the sunny terrace opposite des Halles' Saint-Eustache church, overlooking the Nelson Mandela Gardens into a space where patrons are visually treated to an array of interacting décor elements which purposefully and collectively create a modern and familiar vibe from the moment one enters the brasserie's wide glass doors.
A bar, ingeniously constructed of aluminum, terrazzo and stainless steel
takes center stage and is systematically surrounded by tables and
dining alcoves accommodating up to 180 diners. The pale color
scheme -the light, sage green on the painted plaster walls provides the
greatest color "pop" -imparts a sense of calm, featuring white
terrazzo floors, white painted industrial elements (such as the large
pipes and cement beams) of the ceiling, beige leather saddle stitched
seating, as well as light-wood cabinetry and terrazzo-topped iron
tables. An impressive troop of custom made tubular, glass and copper
light fixtures hang from the ceiling throughout -appearing to mimic the
large industrial pipes beside them- their incandescence doubling in
their reflections on the mirrored walls.
from yatzer