The concept imagines the kitchen and servery as a sort of theatre-in-the-round, made of layers of white Corian, where cookery is a performance and the staff is the cast. It is anchored by one central object, Scheeren's rectangular kitchen counter, where food is made and displayed on platforms at varying heights. Customers are meant to circulate around the centrally positioned counter to watch the "spectacle" and order when they desire.
“Food is essentially a social issue.”
“We create a scenario where celebrating food and its making becomes a highly communicative experience.”
“The Stage is both a universal object and a social magnet… it is dedicated to the interaction of people in any cultural context worldwide.”
Ole Scheeren
The deli chain plans to roll out the concept in a number of new stores from 2017.
The original DEAN & DELUCA opened for business in September 1977 in SoHo, then an edgy artist and warehouse district in lower Manhattan, at the corner of Prince and Greene streets. The original store was designed to evoke a turn of the century food department, replete with ceiling fans spinning over a vast array of products that lined the soaring white walls of this enchanted emporium. It was an instant success; quickly overflowing with food, housewares and customers. On display was a staggering variety of produce and foodstuffs, including many never previously sold in the United States.
“We were the first to bring in radicchio,” recalls Giorgio DeLuca, “the first to sell balsamic vinegar, sun-dried tomatoes and dried mushrooms. In those early days I went out of my way to establish extra virgin olive oil ... everyone who came into the store got a taste.” DEAN & DELUCA quickly became a “not to be missed” destination for food loving New Yorkers and tourists alike. And it was soon obvious more space than the overcrowded 2,600 square feet would be needed.
"My idea was to create food as a landscape, to create food as a topography, a system of peaks and valleys, a drama in itself," said Scheeren presenting Stage at a media preview at Design Miami.
German-born architect Ole Scheeren designed the Prada Epicentres in New York and Los Angeles, and the remarkable CCTV media headquarters in Beijing when he was partner at OMA. Now at the helm of Buro Ole Scheeren, he has recently completed The Interlace, lauded World Building of the Year 2015, and the Mahanakhon, Thailand’s tallest skyscraper. With Scheeren’s much anticipated Guardian Art Centre in Beijing and the DUO towers in Singapore due to open in 2017, he is currently working on multiple new projects across Europe, Asia and North America.
