Capital Kitchen

The groundbreaking design of Capital Kitchen restaurant was conceived by multi-talented artist and style icon Maarten Spruyt. He was given free rein to design the interior décor in line with his own vision and involved renowned fellow creatives in this unique project. Artist Joep van Lieshout, for instance, was responsible for the sculpture above the main bar. This showstopper, right at the heart of the place, has the working title 'The Being', and is a - deconstructed - human skeleton symbolising exposure of the inner self.

The main aim was to leave more space for art, something of a challenge given the limited wall space available. There was also a clear demand for locally sourced and sustainable cuisine. This inspired Maarten to go right back to first principles, with concrete pillars for base notes, white walls to reflect the light, Bas van Tol’s salmon pink staircase as a true centrepiece and stainless steel in the open-plan kitchen. The organic design of the chairs by Maarten Baas constitutes a gentle, warm complement. All the stripping back and laying bare eventually led him to the inner self. And he delved in even deeper...

Brains, oesophagus and disco ball

This theme of the 'inner self' is taken to the extreme with the furniture. Maarten Spruyt: “From the moment you read a menu, neurons in your brain activate. I really wanted to give visible form to this on the tabletops. And while you eat, your salivary glands are active, so I also wanted to portray that beauty on a few of the tables.'The tabletops are highly magnified - down to cellular level - images of human organs, such as the oesophagus, pancreas, liver and even genitals. Maarten Spruyt worked closely together with Tiago Rosado on the technical production of the prints. Responsible for designing the chairs - each has a unique backrest – was artist and designer, Maarten Baas, famed for work which has been shown at the world's leading museums, such as MoMA, as well as Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum and Rijksmuseum.

Also unique: a melted disco ball above the balustrade on the mezzanine. A design by Dutch-American designer collective Rotganzen, who won the prestigious Wallpaper Design Award 2019 with this ball, christened 'Quelle Fête'. Not forgetting the watercolour ‘van de Moeder en van de adem’ [Mother and the breath of life] by Maria Roosen; branches emerging from a human form by Juul Kraijer; Jan Eric Visser's organic work transforming household waste and Esther Hoogendyk's artwork made of concrete, which all go to put mother nature vividly on display.