Celebrating the Tension Between Raw and Refined
From the founders of Mumbai fine dining restaurant Masque, the new 12-seater Masque Lab is an open kitchen concept in a raw, natural space designed by Nikita Pai to reflect the essence of the brand
Image by Pankaj Anand
Design Anthology: Can you tell us about the client and their brief to you for Masque Lab?
Nikita Pai: Masque is an ingredient-driven fine dining restaurant owned by Chef Prateek Sadhu and Aditi Dugar, and Masque Lab is their second venture. The Lab was predominantly created for the chefs to research and innovate new recipes and flavours for their seasonal menus, as well as using this space as an experimental kitchen and private dining space. The Lab spans almost 120 square metres, including a mezzanine level for the fermentation area. For such an inventive, experimental space, they wanted us to draw on their ethos of using materials in their natural form to bring out the best in them. This kind of dining concept is entirely new for India, so there were no other precedents to follow and we had free reign to innovate.
Where is Masque Lab located?
The Lab is located in one of Mumbai’s former textile mills and is a short walk away from the flagship fine dining restaurant, Masque. The neighbourhood is full of old warehouses and a few stone buildings that have been adapted to become design stores, a cultural club and a few cafes and restaurants. It’s a great amalgamation of the old and the new.
How did you approach the project — what design references or narrative did you try to incorporate into the space?
Formerly a warehouse used for storage, the original space was dark and gloomy. We created big arched windows to bring in natural light, and we designed an open-plan configuration where the kitchen forms the core of the space, with all activities planned around it. Guests enter through a dimly lit lobby, where the 12-seat dining table flanks the kitchen and the chefs cook in front of the diners, chef’s table style. The transition from a compact entrance into the double-height volume, lit up by the skylight, lends itself to a dramatic dining setting.
Just beyond the main dining area is a black spiral staircase that leads to the newly created mezzanine level, reserved for a temperature-controlled fermentation lab. This level also leads to a small balcony where the chef plans to set up an herb garden.
Please tell us a little about the material choices for the space.
We envisioned the space to have an austere aesthetic with exposed stone masonry, handcrafted plasterwork and black slate flooring that brings the focus solely on the fare, while the quartz countertops are juxtaposed with raw wood and steel. We intended the muted palette and the play of textures to marry an industrial, unpretentious feel with refined simplicity. The choice of materials and finishes imbues the space with layers of lightness and solidity that echo the various layers of the food being cooked.
Please tell us about some of the custom pieces for the space.
Each and every piece was customised to complement the industrial architecture of the space. We designed all of the brass lights inside and outside, along with the tall fluted glass crockery cabinet, specifically for the Lab.
Do you have a favourite element or design detail in the architecture or interiors?
I really like the way that the large arched windows, which were inspired by the neighbouring old mills, work with the skylight to flood the dining area with ample natural light.
Image by Pankaj Anand
Image by Pankaj Anand
Image by Pankaj Anand
Image by Pankaj Anand
Image by Rahul Nath
Image by Pankaj Anand
Image by Pankaj Anand
Image by Pankaj Anand