sketch: what is sketch?
Branded Spaces Contextual & Theoretical Studies
Cancan Huang | HUA13407763 Graphic and media design, Year 2
sketch: WHAT IS SKETCH?
sketch: what is sketch?
introduction Sketch is a well-known ‘New French’ restaurant opened at 2002, which located at Bond Street, Mayfair, London. The location is not a coincidence that connects to its audience. It is a complex and unique site served with imaginative food and spaces. (Sketch, 2014) Every time you enter it, you will be surprised by its ubiquitous artistic pieces. The restaurateur Mourad Mazouz is famous for his celebrated restaurants in Paris. Sketch is his triple dream: for food, art and music. The master Michelin three-starred chef of Sketch Pierre Gagnaire has become synonymous with adventurous and iconoclastic cooking. (Sketch, 2014) A glamorous beginning destines the special of this restaurant. As a brand, Sketch means possibilities, the ‘Sketch’ is sketch that it is a dream and could be in any format, so all the things happen here, the spaces, we see its infinity.
The dog at the entrance.
Points will be made in this article are based on the theory of ‘Hyper reality’ which is created by the French philosopher and sociologist Jean Baudrillard. As Baudrillard argues, ‘It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal’. (Baudrillard, ed. Poster, 1988) So, how special is Sketch, what kind of hyper reality that Sketch simulated and what cultural value is concealed in it?
sketch: what is sketch?
a room belongs to art Martin Creed at Sketch, 2012
sketch: what is sketch?
What differ from other restaurant is, the Sketch gallery, one of the most famous rooms in Sketch, is truly a gallery rather than a restaurant. To extend Mazouz’s dream: for art and food, the Sketch gallery has hosted over 50 exhibitions of moving images on the wall. For its tenth anniversary, this is the first time for Sketch to invite one of the foremost contemporary British artists Martin Creed to collaborate an eighteen-month programme: to re-design the gallery. Victoria Brooks, curator of the exhibition programme at Sketch since 2006 explains, ‘We initially approached Martin for the project as his practice already encompassed a playful approach to the public realm and he engages with site in a very lyrical but functional way.’ (Zampetti, 2011) The culture of Sketch is spread and the level related to art goes deeper and become iconic. We can see Creed’s previous Work No.1347 that consists of 96 different types of marble lining across the floor, while Work No. 1343 is new work specially made for the restaurant in which every single piece of cutlery, glassware, lamp, chair and table is different. The environment will be simultaneously an exhibition, an artwork, a restaurant and an
event space. (Zampetti, 2011) Moreover, the Michelin-star chef Pierre Gagnaire is inspired by Creed’s artwork and designs a new set of menu. All things happened in this room is extremely well controlled by this new spectacular idea.
sketch: what is sketch?
what is the food, why is sketch? If we treat it as a real gallery, then ‘A ticket to this event is more expensive than grand opera’, (The Observer, 2003) commented by Fay Maschler from Evening Standard. Expensive. As the restaurateur Mourad Mazouz states, the big dream is to mix everyone, from children to grandparents. (Sketch, 2012) In fact, do you think it could be possibly open to everyone? The answer is obvious. Moreover, added the authoritative co-founder Michelin three-starred chef Pierre Gagnaire, everything sounds more overpriced and seems it is only for the rich.
Not everyone on the earth would like to spend hundreds pound for a dinner. Although, we have aware that some organizations are ranking the top 100 restaurant all over the world. The well-known Michelin brand is a representative of high-cuisine, even more, high-culture. So what exactly people would get from these Michelin restaurants? Why people are still enjoyable spending money on an overpriced dinner? What are they truly buying? Besides the gastronomy, the art of food, guests in these restaurants are more than eating the food for sure. It might be happen that they even don’t hungry or can’t feel full. They are tasting art, and they are temporary living in their elite illusion just for a dinnertime. They are spending their money on the spaces, the service, the feeling of vanity, and the delightful experience and memories. They gain something invisible more than visible and the desire of beautiful comes naturally.
sketch: what is sketch?
What has Sketch done? A restaurant creates arts. Look throughout major museums and galleries, such as British Museum, Tate Modern, even Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Museum of Modern Arts in New York, they have more than one restaurants included the fine cuisine inside the building. However, the galleries and dining areas are usually separated. For Sketch, it is impressive and smart enough to mix the gallery and restaurant. When the guests are dining in this show room, if someone takes a photo, even people become part of the performance art. We may ever see artists’ work in their solo exhibitions, but for sure this would be the first time to be in part of the show. As Sunday Times Style Magazine comments (2012), ‘This space will make you look at the stuff you surround yourself with in an entirely new way.’ The Michelin name takes great customers to the restaurant as well as the impressive simulation attracts a wider range of visitors all over the word who would like to pay high price to see the surprised London. The collaborative project achieved a huge success.
sketch: what is sketch?
a real without reality: a hyper real ‘Baudrillard has argueed that we live in “the age of simulation”,’ (Ritzer, 1998) the world that Sketch creates is undoubtedly a fantasy. In the picture there is another room the Glade from Sketch. It is becoming their branding strategies. They all pure enough to become authenticity themself because they are based on emptiness. The nature is authentic because it is what it is. The city is not because different governments build in multiple structures and residence from time to time designs it again and again. The artistic place, as Disneyland, is authentic because of its pureness and it is completely based on imaginary world.
Another room at Sketch: the Glade
Take the example that Jean Baudrillard talks about Disneyland in Simulacra and Simulations, he describes the inside of imagined Disneyland as ‘infantile world’ while the outside is ‘adult’s world’ (Baudrillard, 1998). The gallery is simulating the ‘infantile world’, isn’t it? Everything is new and everything has been just created and grouped as a whole. The gallery is building a new world, or we could say it is pretended to be a new ‘real’ world, which is not real. The room is no existing anywhere else in the world but in the Sketch: they are regrouping a new world.
sketch: what is sketch?
‘The imaginary world is supposed to be what makes the operation successful’. (Baudrillard, 1998) The illusion is not only seen by artist but also apply to the guests. While George Ritzer explains that perhaps the most important reason for creating simulation is because it would be much more attractive than authentic fact. (Ritzer, 1998) According to Ritzer, the entire distinction between the simulated and the real is lost. (Ritzer, 1998) People are living in the reality, and the illusion is more about ideology. What do people really desire? Take the example of Disneyland again, we all know that it is fake but it is a fake real (Baudrillard, 1998). To some extent, the illusion of Disneyland helps to anaesthetize, to let them live in their dream for a while. What is there behind the gorgeous appearance? Nothing. What is the real for Sketch? Maybe only the food since it is a restaurant initially. We know that it is not the reality as we know that we are in an adult’s world. We live with pressures, with ciaos, with problems, with accidents, but we still would like to take the ‘infantile world’ for our pleasure and our happiness even though it is just for temporary. But that is enough. It is humanity.
Abstracting the concept broader, it is about the way we live our lives. We all know the gap between the ideal and the reality but it doesn’t matter that we can still dream our dreams. The hyper reality is like someone else’s dream. We walk into those dreams, spend times and money there, enjoy the pleasure and surprises it takes to us. It is just personal preference whether we like it or not, whether we would like to admit it or not.
sketch: what is sketch?
conclusion To sum up, what is Sketch? The brand Sketch equals a high-cuisine restaurant served overpriced food plus their over-imaginative spaces based at the central of London. The recognizable founder of celebrated French restaurant and Michelin starred chef destines the brand ‘Sketch’ should stand above others. They create arts. There are huge possibilities that Sketch creating spectacles to attract audience: merging the exhibition, artwork, restaurant and event in one concept. The collaborative project working with artist has a huge success and affection.
In terms of the successful simulation, Sketch is creating a new world, a real without reality: a hyper reality. Image above shows another pink world created by David Shrigley at Sketch. Everything is regrouped in this whole new nature. However, what behind this is emptiness because the ‘New world’ is changing. What’s more, most of the people we believe don’t take fine cuisine as daily meal. We are human and we can distinguish the real and fake. The question is if we want to do it. Even though we know it is just nothing behind and we probably can not afford it we would still like to gain happiness there if we need. The true is, people would like to pay for it. They are buying the invisible value more than those physical objects. It is not only about the high-cuisine, it is about a broader aspect, a new creating world of hyper reality that thisbrand simulating.
bibliography Reading related to the seminar
Reading related to the topic
Baudrillard, J., Poster, M. ed (1998) Simulacra and Simulations, Selected Writings, Stanford; Stanford University Press, pp.166-184. The article argues a clear idea of Simulacra and Simulations with lots of example, especially Disneyland in the hyperreal and imaginary section. The idea of analyzing the how does hyperreal work in Disneyland and the comparison of ‘infantile world’ and ‘adult world’ helps so much in describing the hyperreal of Sketch.
Sketch is.... [Internet]. Available from: <http://sketch.london/what.php> [Accessed 4 December 2014]. It is selected from the official site of Sketch London. It provides all the detailed information of the restaurant from how it starts to how it is now and it has a brief introduction of two foundes Mourad Mazouz and Pierre Gagnaire.
Ritzer, G. (1998) Enchanting a Disenchanted World: Revolutionizing the Means of Consumption. Pine Forge Press, pp.104-130 Ritzer illustrates the idea based on the example of Las Vegas from what’s the spectacle and extravaganzas and how they contribute to simulation and creating enchantment. The arguments about the unclear boundaries of authenticity and simulation are quite fascinating as well as the relationship between the environment and imaginary. Ritzer, G. & Stillman, Todd. (2001) The Modern Las Vegas Casino-Hotel: The Paradigmatic New Means of Consumption. M@n@gement, pp.83-99 Basing on the case of Las Vegas Casino-Hotel, it defines the new means of consumption and ‘paradigmatic’, at the same time, it conveys the idea of the ‘hyperreal’ basing on the example as Grand Canyon. Besides, it discusses that to compress time and space in ways that can be both spectacular and enchanting as new means of consumption.
Zampetti, C. (2011) Martin Creed to Cook Up Projects at London’s Sketch. [Internet]. Available from: <http://www. artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/martin-creed-sketch/> [Accessed 4 December 2014] It talks about the idea behind the artist cooperation project that mentions the quotation of reason they invite Martin Creed from the interview with Victoria Brooks, the curator from Sketch since 2006. Also, the comments are given at the stage of the whole programme but not only the details of artist’s work. I want the whole world to be in it. [Internet]. Available from: <http://sketch.london/Martin_Creed.php?menu=4> [Accessed 4 December 2014] The reference consists of a short introduction of Martin Creed highlighting the multitude of disciplines of his work from the perspective of curator and shows detailed descriptions of Martin Creed’s work at Sketch Gallery includes the content, material, formats. Fort, M. (2003) Sketch, London W1. [Internet]. Available from: <http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/ mar/08/foodanddrink.shopping1> [Accessed 4 December, 2014]
sketch: what is sketch?
Matthew Fort has been the food and drink editor of The Guardian for oven ten years. He holds absolutely negative opinion in this article that he looks deeply into the creativities of typical French gastronomic food, which Sketch serves and broadened British food. He also considers if the food worth hundreds pounds of money and criticizes the design as ‘ridiculous mishmash of styles’. The Observer. (2003) What the restaurant critics really thought. [Internet]. Available from: <http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/nov/09/foodanddrink. features2> [Accessed 4 December, 2014] With the subtitle ‘Is Sketch astonishingly sublime or overpriced tosh? The experts have their say’, The Observer reviews couples of critical points quoted from experienced editor or journalists from mainstream media groups. It includes the reviews of the cost, the design, the food etc. Press comments. (2013) [Internet]. Available from: <http://sketch.london/press.php?menu=6> [Accessed 4 December 2014] The comments are collected in a positive way since it is on the Sketch’s official website. It broadly includes the comments from Time Out Guide, The Restaurant Guide, The Good Food Guide, Harpers Bazaar, Independent, New York Times Style Magazine and etc. from 2012- 2013. Orwell, R. (2014) Tutorial with Huang, C. at Language zones LCC, 2 December 2014. I have been well supported from Roger Orwell, the tutor at Language center. He explains the general idea of Jean Baudrillard’s theory about Simulacra and Simulations and we had a deeply and theoretic conversation on the humanis-
sketch: what is sketch?
tic and cultural thoughts reflected from the theories. Videos Sketch (2012). Sketch film [Internet]. Available from: <http://vimeo.com/44860156> [Accessed 4 December 2014] More than just images, the video shows a dynamic sketch with all its different styles of room. The owner Mourad Mazouz talks about what his ideas are to brand the Sketch. To brand a space which is for everyone from the youth to the old. And Sketch, as its name, the special of this brand is to sketch itself, it could contain all different dreams and create a new world. Sketch (2012). Martin Creed at sketch [Internet]. Available from: < http://vimeo.com/44868425> [Accessed 4 December 2014] In this video, the room is changed from the very beginning: empty to full of Creed’s installation. We see the development through work in process. Unfortunately, due to some reason there is no audio for this video, but we can still get the rough idea of how the room eventually become Martin Creed’s Gallery. Apart from the room, the new menu from Pierre Gagnaire that we can see from the video is making connections to Creed’s work. Images Text at the entrance of Sketch, [online images]. Available at: <http://cleverbirdbanter.files.wordpress. com/2012/09/clever-bird-sketch-1.jpg>. [Accessed 4 December 2014]
The image of the entrance of Sketch illustrates the minimalist art and great possibility of the conceptual sign of the restaurant. Sketch Gallery with Martin Creed’s work, [online images]. Available at: <http://sketch.london/Martin_Creed. php?menu=4>. [Accessed 4 December 2014] The image perfectly shows Work No.1347 which consists of 96 different types of marble, in a formation of zigzagging lines across the floor; and Work No.1343, a new work specially made for the restaurant in which every single piece of cutlery, glassware, lamp, chair and table is different; and two of four different wall drawings which are overlaid by 18 paintings by Creed including the series of four canvases Work No.1100 (2011). Work No. 1343, [online images]. Available at:< http:// sketch.london/Martin_Creed.php?menu=4>.[Accessed 4 December 2014] The image is cropped from the oringinal image that audience could get a well understanding of it. This new work are specially made for this specific programme that every single piece of cutlery, glassware, lamp, chair and table is different. Dog standing on the wall, [online images]. Available at:<http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6220/6249317594_ fa211f586c.jpg>. [Accessed 4 December 2014] The description in the paragraph saying ‘Every time you enter it, you will be surprised by its ubiquitous artistic pieces.’. For the dog, before you enter, you have already felt surprised. New menu from Pierre Gagnaire inspired by Martin Creed, [online images]. Available at:<http://www.four-maga-
zine.com/files/images/articles/852/1250x1250/Sketch_ Navet_Martin_Creed_selection.jpg> [Accessed 4 December 2014] While Martin Creed processing the art project, the master chef Pierre explored a new set of menu that is inspired by Martin Creed. The whole environment and the food are in a cohesive stage that brings guest a full experience. photo taken by guest, [online images]. Available at:<http://lawrencenas.dyndns.org/Adrianne/ Blog/201306PARIS/0602D3/029.jpg> [Accessed 4 December 2014] Being part of the art, guest are taking photos included other guest. This is the idea claiming merging the restaurant and gallery, now guest and the art pieces are going on a same show here. It would be an impressive experience. The Glade at Sketch, [online images]. Available at:< http://sketch.london/_images/_bars/_glade/glade_01. jpg > [Accessed 4 December 2014] Another room at Sketch simulating the Glade with green curtains, glade painting on the wall, the natural styles of music with the bamboo outdoor chairs and tables. Sketch Gallery collabrated with David Shrigley, [online images]. Available at: < http://sketch.london/venue_Gallery_David_Shrigley.php?menu=1> [Accessed 4 December 2014] Another hyper reality: a pink world. It makes connection to the film ‘the Grand Budapest Hotel’ for some people. The room is just empty, artists changing it again and again, creating a new world again and again. The old one is easy to break and the whole new one is easy to build up.