Miss Kō Art, Food and Curiosity 49/51 Av. George V 75008 Paris Miss Kō 02
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PRESS PACK MISS KŌ ART, FOOD AND CURIOSITY 49/51 AV. GEORGE V 75008 PARIS MISS KŌ 02 Along the very fashionable Avenue George V, Miss Kō stands out like a warp zone, the place in a video game that whisks you into a parallel dimension. Swept into a mesmerising world, visitors are invited to plunge into one of those crazy décors in which all codes are abolished, becoming actors in their own adventure where every sense is stimulated and astonished. For Miss Kō, AT THE EPICENTRE Philippe Starck pushed ART OF PARIS’ GOLDEN the scripting of space to A WORLD THAT IS STRIKINGLY TRIANGLE, the absolute limit. PHILIPPE STARCK PHILIPPE STARCK “Miss Kō is a place of freedom “Miss Kō is a fantasy created AND CLAUDE from scratch, an exquisite corpse, that, to some degree, a crazy collage where you walk LOUZON HAVE is going to invent itself.” into a faraway ‘court of miracles’ CREATED MISS KŌ, Philippe Starck on a street straight out of Blade A SPECTACULAR Runner, steeped in limitless creative It is more an evolving madness, where artists are freed RESTAURANT WITH installation than a décor; of all boundaries, where technology A SPELLBINDING he designed an immersive shows an exciting tomorrow, SETTING. work in which every detail where industry becomes art.” Ph. S. recounts the story of an imaginary heroine, Miss Kō. Like an alley, stretched across 500m2 of space, leading to the spectacle A faceless Eurasian who of a frenzied, frenetic kitchen, where the eye glimpses enigmatic montages reveals herself in modest and the nose follows inspiring odours, nudity, a body entirely the inside of Miss Kō intrigues and covered in tattoos. Miss Kō challenges the mind. is a mystery that is blurred in the staging orchestrated by “Miss Kō is an adventure in hospitality, the designer. He cultivates one of the riskiest adventures, because an entire environment it is totally phantasmagorical, sort around her that stirs of an insane recreation of a street the senses and fires the somewhere in Asia.” Ph. S. imagination. In the dining room, a few key “Sometimes dreams are elements are pivotal components of the interior design, like the feverish, crazy, strange. massive screen bar, the spectacular You wake up, somehow fresco by David Rochline and the changed, dazzled by what huge teapot-cum-lamp. Everywhere you experienced, relieved around signs that drip with Asian to come to your senses, yet ambiance; grey collides with sad to not be sure of going colours. The furnishings are a mix back. That’s what Miss Kō is. of contemporary items and Far That’s all it is, and it is, East inspiration. above all, that.” Philippe Starck MISS KŌ 03 ART CLOSE-UP CLOSE-UP THE BACKDROP BREAKING NEWS OF A DAVID ROCHLINE FRESCO “Miss Kō is a kind of neo-Asian madness that comes right to “A plethora of incomprehensible signs, “The David Rochline portrait of the brink of being very humorous, perhaps Asian, perhaps not.” Ph. S. the enigmatic Miss Kō reigns over a especially in a neighbourhood anarchistic world of cooks yelling that really isn’t.” Ph. S. Large aluminium cabinets line the through the steam of their preparations, walls, like technical-looking masks detergent bottles in Wonderland, An assumed reference to the or the oversized pigeonholes of a aquarium frescoes on acid, monstrously cyberpunk atmosphere of the movie curio cabinet accumulating the kitsch large, too-bright teapots.” Ph. S. Blade Runner, Miss Kō is burgeoning of a Hong Kong bazaar. And, just like with images and screenings. in that bustling neon city, light and video are central to an environment “An exaggeration of news screens throbbing in perpetual pulsation. and misinformation...” Ph. S. “It is a place of freedom, humour, The cascade of inaudible messages creativity, art, friendliness, openness. tells the story of a modern muse, Miss Kō is a breath of madness, it’s a rebel poet in the exquisite districts truly insane. A street out of Blade of Paris. Like flashes, these screens Runner: a cement parking-garage wall heighten the magical character with Formica chairs, TV screens that of the alley. spew out hundreds of images of live Lush and fantastic, teeming and news coverage from Asia, a kitchen saturated, the monumental fresco The backbone of the space is a that smokes and smoulders.” Ph. S. by David Rochline is his interpretation double bar of screens stretching a full of Miss Kō. The iconoclastic artist fulfils 26 metres. It is the signature piece The inner structure is multisensory, his long-held wish of collaborating of the place, the embodiment of its leading to a space of pure otherness with Philippe Starck, who says of him: frenzied fomentation, friendly sharing in which boundaries are blurred by and hypnotising dazzle, an original the play of light and dark. lighting “He (David Rochline) has long creation by Philippe Starck that designer jean-philippe bourdon been a very mysterious character, juxtaposes on its surface hundreds of uses neon to erase the notion of a like someone out of a novel, monitors that ceaselessly broadcast ceiling and spotlights the focal points the Cocteau of our time.” Ph. S. Asian channels, punctuated by of the staging. And this staging, the nonchalant passage of a dragon like any fiction worthy of the name, Though nonconformist and designed by label dalbin. A fully- is also enhanced by original music disconcerting, this work is first and fledged video oeuvre in which each composed by orsten karki, who foremost poetic. The abundant images programme becomes a pixel in a designed the miss Kō soundtrack fascinate, it underlines the horror of broader vision meticulously composed that is regularly played by guest DJs. the void, homage to the strange-yet- by the designer. beautiful so revered by Baudelaire and In this wonderland, it is clear Rochline. Together with Philippe Starck, On the concrete walls are grains of that nothing was left to chance he sketched the broad strokes for rice that move and faces that morph, when it comes to triggering the this backdrop, the canvas for which was attracting the eye and ensnaring the mechanisms of emotion and carefully produced using a technique focus, humanising the environment memory, as surreptitiously called combining watercolour, pencil and that shakes loose of limits, escaping upon yet again in the olfactory gouache. The work spans a 15-metre- the boundaries of the walls. ornamentation overseen by Rami long wall and looks as much like Mekdachi. A master of the genre wallpaper as it does a futuristic manga, who sets the tone and vibration covering the surface like so much dense of the space through the most ivy, with not a single pattern repeated, impalpable of details. punctuated by fantastical characters who interact by gaze and glance. This visual curiosity, designed to serve as a purely visual tale, is admirably striking both in its least detail and its broader artistic vision. MISS KŌ 04 ASIAN MIX AND TWIST With guidance from Linda Rodriguez and Martin Swift (Nobu NYC & FOOD London, Bond Street NYC), experts in Japanese cuisine, Fabrice Monot finds his own flair in interpreting and revisiting traditional Asian cuisine. He blazes new trails in culinary Who hasn’t dreamed of sampling creation. He reinvents sushi, jiaozi, a bubble tea on Avenue George V? bo buns, spring rolls and yakitori, The concept was to forge a place of composes salads and dishes with freedom, a funny, irrational place, and contrasting flavours and textures. that’s what the team endeavoured From burger buns tinged with to create: an ensemble that scrambles cuttlefish ink to Roquefort with codes and shakes up senses, that tuna in the “Red Baron” sushi, the rejects all dictates of fashion and the menu piques curiosity and causes polished airs of the quarter...Miss Kō taste buds to wriggle in delight. is where you have fun, and this comes It is a new undertaking for Fabrice about with help from the completely Monot and he surprises with original and markedly off-beat sashizzas, an explosive hybrid cocktail menu. Rye whiskey shares pairing Japanese pizzetas and space with Japanese liqueurs and tuna sashimi. Thai spirits, while iced jasmine tea competes fiercely with aloe vera juice. At Miss Kō, the Niçoise salad Behind the screen bar, Miss Kō’s takes on airs of the Far East, the bartenders master mixologies of bouillabaisse is unabashedly Asian, revolutionary flavours that overwhelm FOOD the foie gras dons spring garb those who let them pass their lips, FOOD STREET and the boeuf bourguignon fashions leading them into the very centre of The vision of a globalised future, a custom kimono from pot-sticker this dream-like world that is Miss Kō. in which Asia is the new centre dumpling dough. Meanwhile, of gravity, this interpretation of an the sushi rocks and rolls from “Miss Kō is a fantastic project that gives incandescent alley offers as many sweet to savoury, tender to crispy. me license to prepare dishes with appropriation scenarios as there are diverse tastes that are simultaneously viewpoints. The 200 seats spread And the Orient-Express style mild, more intense, and more throughout the joyous atmosphere continues in the desserts, with aromatic. It’s truly a flavour clash. of this “court of miracles” Ph. S. Western classics like cheesecake It is absolutely essential for me to are divided between the terrace and chocolate cake, cheek by make the Miss Kō restaurant the gold on Avenue George V, around jowl with chocolate-banana-filled standard in culinary renewal.” the spectacular screen bar, facing dim sum, tapioca with coconut Fabrice Monot the sushi counter, around the mousse and fresh mango, table d’hôte and in tables for two.