Whether it’s in Manila or his home base in Hong Kong, JJ Acuña has a knack for setting a scene just like a movie. Photographed by Belg Belgica
Ahead of the soft opening of his latest restaurant in January, architect JJ Acuña shares a glimpse into the latest space he has designed in Makati.
Picture a scene from a film that goes like this: In an old, storied house, you find a set of winding stairs hidden behind its walls. Going up the flights, the place opens up into a warm attic with wooden furniture, a pitched roof, and, interestingly, a Rita Nazareno-designed rattan light shade hanging over the table.
A space can be whatever you want it to be, and for JJ Acuña, owner of JJ Acuña/Bespoke Studio, it’s where stories come to life. Whether it’s in Manila, his home base in Hong Kong, or anywhere else in Asia, the renowned designer has a knack for setting a scene just like a movie. Walking Vogue Philippines through Celera, his newest restaurant project, he aims to paint a picture of wonder and warmth; a cross between a lost attic and a home barn at the topmost floor of the Comuna building in Makati.
Acuña shares that he sometimes draws inspiration from film directors. You’ll find traces of Wes Anderson in the pastel pinks and emerald greens of the interiors in Miss Lee, the nostalgic Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, you’ll feel as if you’re in a Wong Kar Wai film saddled under the neon lights of Little Bao, the brick-and-mortar diner in Bangkok. At Carlo’s in Taguig, The Godfather meets The Royal Tenenbaums for an upbeat atmosphere that brings New York’s Little Italy to Manila.
He gives his tour before the restaurant officially opens; while it’s not fully furnished yet, it’s easy to tell that the place has good bones. Just like a director himself, he gives a walkthrough of how the space’s story will unfold.
In Celera, he is also guided by his own experiences as an avid diner, infused with the creative vision of Chefs Nicco Santos and Quenee Vilar who helm the kitchen. Working with the two under the same roof is kismet after being a fan of theirs for many years. He sees his design work as a service bridging the gap between the dream the chefs envision and what can actually be created with the materials available. It’s spatial alchemy plus intuition, he says. Each space begins with potential, an aspiration, then it’s his job to bring it to life.
The architect-designer particularly loves the windows on the west and north sides of the restaurant. When daylight strikes the monochrome bricks laid out for the banquettes, it creates rhythm and depth. The choice also reflects the chefs’ sense of style—purposely making things interesting not by color, but by texture.
Warmth in Celera’s dining space is introduced not as a blaze, but something that feels more like kindling. Two-toned woven abaca rugs and furniture upholstered in deep orange hues bring a pop of color. A custom wooden center table preserving the tree’s organic shape greets you at the entrance. Meanwhile, the service station is built to resemble a hearth.
Pointing to where the restaurant’s private room will be, he brings up a copper chain link sheet that serves as a soft partition between the areas. The look achieved is similar to a beaded curtain, but more industrial in style. And with the service table custom painted to look like charcoal and rusted steel, Celera also borrows elements from the district it resides in.
“Do you think this restaurant just fell out of a coconut tree?” Acuña quips, calling back to a familiar catchphrase that went viral during the US elections. He explains that each project his studio designs also considers the context of the location it is surrounded by. In the slower-paced industrial outskirts of Makati, the steel and charcoal simply fit right into the scene.
It’s decisions like these that complete a dining experience. “In a movie when the drama goes on, you forget about the [background] scene. You get engulfed in it,” he says. “Making a restaurant disappear is a masterstroke.” For all the drama that his design creates, it is in no competition with the food as soon as it arrives on the table. The end goal is to let the diners enjoy the time with their friends.
When Acuña lays down the fabric samples and furniture plans his studio has chosen, you can see his team’s work in research and development, which took eight to 10 months. “It takes time to design special places,” he says. “So, at first the clients say, ‘Oh, we have to start building next month!’ But then after they start working with us, they calm down and they realize, ‘Oh, I’m probably going to be here for five to twenty years. What’s another three to five months to iron it out?'”
And that is at the essence of Acuña’s design philosophy. There is intent in each decision, bespoke to his client’s story, aspiration, and practice. These days, what he considers as luxury is the time and freedom to refine each of those creative choices. In between those choices is oftentimes silence.
“The best ideas come from silence. When nothing happens, the best things happen,” he says. Good design takes time. In restaurants like Celera, or in residences and offices that Acuña’s bespoke studio has tailored all over Asia, something that can feel so luxurious can be just as simple as that.
