sketch (restaurant)

Coordinates: 51°30′45.721″N 0°8′29.602″W / 51.51270028°N 0.14155611°W

Sketch is a well known restaurant on 9 Conduit Street, Mayfair, London, England, which opened in 2003. The restaurant is owned by Mourad Mazouz^[1][2] and the Head Chef is Pierre Gagnaire.^[3] The cuisine is described as 'New French', and is a loose adaptation of the cuisine served in Gagnaire's three Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris and is executed by Hervé Deville and Johannes Nuding.

Mazouz came to public attention through the success of Momo,^[4] the North African restaurant and bar he opened in 1997 just off Regent Street, although he was already well known in France for his celebrated restaurants, Au Bascou^[5] and 404.^[6]

The restaurant covers two floors of a converted 18th century site in Conduit Street, Mayfair.

9 Conduit Street history

9 Conduit is a Grade II listed townhouse in Mayfair,^[7] designed by Scottish Architect James Wyatt in 1779 as the private residence of James Viner.^[8][9] Following that the building hosted a bizarre variety of societies and institutions that, according to some accounts, included cyclists, balloonists and psychologists, as well as the Suffragette movement in the early 20th century, RIBA^[10] and Christian Dior.^[8] When the building was taken over by Sketch the interior was re-designed by Mazouz and Paris-based designer and sculptor Noé Duchaufour-Lawrence. Several other international designers were commissioned for signature pieces, which are featured throughout sketch.

RIBA at 9 Conduit Street

1887-1909 Conduit Street was converted into the headquarters of Royal Society of British Architects (RIBA) and still retains its plaque and crest in the entrance hall. During this time RIBA/AA hosted a competition to re-design the 18th century façade design and although this was never realized, the RIBA archive at the V&A retains some of the competition proposal drawings.

Christian Dior at 9 Conduit Street

The townhouse continued its interesting design legacy and history in the mid-20th century to become Christian Dior’s London atelier, within which Dior housed his collections. During this time in the 1970s the listed interior was modified by the seminal mid century architect and leading Pop interior designer and furniture maker Max Clendinning (b. 1924) who designed cupboards, cubicles and display cases for Dior’s ready to wear clothes and accessories. To combine the old and new, everything (including the walls, ceilings and woodwork) was painted a uniform mid-grey with a grey velvet Wilton carpet and grey uniformed attendants to “throw the clothes into sharper relief, and seems to conform with the classical, refined elegance of the House of Dior itself.” This austere style of monochromatic design was developed from his seminal 1960s signature white on white designs that marked the peak of British Modernism.

Awards

In 2005 sketch was ranked as the 18th best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine.^[11]

In 2008 sketch won the 2007-08 AA Wine Award for England.^[12]

Sketch is the current owner of 5 rosettes from the AA.^[13]

Sketch had 2 Michelin stars 2012.

See also

• List of French restaurants
• Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts

References

1. "Times interview with M.M". Women.timesonline.co.uk.
2. Warwick, Joe (11 November 2007). "The Independent interview with M.M". Independent.co.uk.
3. Jan Moir & S. "Copy from FT interview with P.G". Areyoureadytoorder.co.uk.
4. "Momo Website". Momoresto.com. 28 May 2012.
5. "Au Bascou". Aubascou.abemadi.com.
6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
7. Westminster council
8. VADS Design Journal Archived 29 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
9. 1749 Westminster Poll Book Archived 8 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
10. "Exhibition at RIBA". Flightglobal.com.
11. "London Eats". London Eats. 18 April 2005.
12. AA Hospitality Awards Archived 18 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
13. "AA.com". AA.com.

External links

• Official website