Restaurant & Bar Design Project
Kinoya — Chaos, Contained
The restaurant interior design of this Montreal spot, the izakaya Kinoya, recovers the spirit of the Japanese sake bars where people drink, eat and talk pressed up against one another. In reworking it, I wanted its original character back: informal, loud, intimate to the edge — we were testing claustrophobia. The results were striking from the very first night. I made it a closed space, given over entirely to celebration.
Containment
The idea is easy to name, harder to inhabit. Into the old black cube, of which I kept only the floral motifs, I slid a second volume — an angular form, like an articulated snake or an unfolded origami. You moved from an open, predictable outside to a closed, chaotic inside, full of nooks. The ceiling dropped from front to back, closing the room like a cocoon. The elements were deliberately pressing, almost aggressive — a raw place, where you were loudly hailed. This tension of the tight and the close runs through my work: the duality of the individual and the collective, the many ways of occupying a single space.
The Wood
Everything held in the material. Reclaimed barn wood, locally sourced — hemlock and white spruce — laid in boards of varying widths and thicknesses, running in every direction. The irregularity built the intended disorder, but it also worked for the ear: those angular surfaces deflected the sound waves and broke up the noise of a full room. The wood smelled good, absorbed, warmed. A boisterous place that stayed, all the same, enveloping.
The Encounter
In Japan, the izakaya is a place of unwinding and of socializing. The word nomunication — to drink and to communicate in the same breath — sums it up. At Kinoya, the tight quarters did not separate; they drew people together: you ate under the gaze of the other, you spoke because you could do nothing else. A socializing by collision, where East and West met around a shared idea of closeness.
Kinoya was never empty. The project was awarded and published around the world. After ten years of making this demanding place come alive, its owners chose a simpler venture to run — the doors closed, and other restaurants took up the space. The concept, though, left its mark.
Project details
- Location: Montreal
- Type: restaurant and bar — izakaya
- Area: approx. 1,500 sq ft · dining room approx. 800 sq ft
- Capacity: 60 seats
- Design: Jean de Lessard, Alexa Adam
- General contractor: Pure Rénovation
- Woodwork: Dominic Samson, Solution durable
- Photography: Adrien Williams
Jean de Lessard has been designing spaces since 1990 — restaurants, bars, offices, retail, residences. An ongoing exploration of movement and perception. Always in search.
