Story Of Serenity

One of the world’s top chefs, Anne-Sophie Pic, has made her debut into Asia at the newly renovated Raffles Singapore. Naturally, her restaurant Le Dame de Pic (which translates from French to ‘queen of spades’) needed to reflect her personality and the spirit of her cuisine, while sitting comfortably within the rich heritage context of the hotel. New York-based studio Champalimaud (which was also involved in the broader hotel renovation) developed an airy, serene interior in response to the softness and light colouration of her dishes.

This particular space at Raffles had always served as the hotel’s main dining hall. In its new form, it is the hotel’s formal dining room, and thus prioritises a sense of elegant comfort. “What we tried to do here at Raffles was a restoration of the building but also a restoration of the social vision of what Raffles had been,” says Ed Bakos, Managing Director and Partner at Champalimaud. “When it was built,” he adds, “the Sarkies brothers had a giant dining hall where everyone came together.” However, through the years that presence had become considerably diminished, he suggests.

“We saw it as our mission to preserve the heritage and spirit of such a romantic, beautiful and important national landmark,” says Bakos. As part of that vision, a timeless character was developed for Le Dame de Pic. Soft pinks and rich plums, grey clay tones and metallic accents play off each other beneath a peony bas relief on the ceiling – a reference to the garden city in which the hotel sits. A gold chandelier composed of tiers of laser-cut discs is a playful nod to the symbols on playing cards (harking back to the ‘queen of spades’ name).