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Sylvie Amar at EQUIPHOTEL
As a partner of the EQUIP’HOTEL salon, I will be publishing an article each Wednesday on a project that will be on display throughout the salon.
Today, I’d like to present to you the concept of an “Arts of the Table” showroom for EQUIP’HOTEL that was entrusted, for the second time in a row, to Sylvie Amar, who dedicated the theme this year to “A Cup of Coffee” (picture above).
The project: The “Coffee Wall,” 14 meters lined with cups of coffee! Coffee shops, new baristas, new merchants, new brands: coffee has unmistakably established itself in restaurants for the long haul. Every day from 9 am to 5 pm, Operation “Pick your coffee, and give it a sip!” will show the importance of this trend.
A barista will be on hand to explain the coffee and the automatic machines (in partnership with L’Arbre à Café, Hobart, and WMF) and offer coffee to visitors. Only one condition: help yourself to the pleasure of selecting your own cup from the Coffee Wall…
A permanent exhibition: “Ten Trends,” on the latest trends in tableware. An exhibition on the trends of ten items used for tableware: napkin rings, silverware, crumb sweepers, menu covers and signs, plates, coffee cups, special Collector’s tableware items, new tools, chopsticks, and table settings.
Conferences on cutting-edge trends “Let’s Talk”: two times a day, visitors from prestigious establishments (manufacturers, caterers, restaurant managers, and designers) will come to share their views on various subjects related to the trends on display.
Sylvie Amar was very eager to share her thoughts on her Coffee Wall project with us, for which I thank her enormously.
Could you describe for us the Coffee Wall project that you are planning to exhibit at the EQUIP’HOTEL salon?
The Coffee Wall is an experiment that’s never been done before, and it’s directed toward the visitors of EQUIP’HOTEL, but also toward the visiting designers and manufacturers who design coffee cups. We’ll be displaying these along a wall that stretches 14 meters long, with somewhere between 200 to 300 offerings of coffee cups, originating from all over the world. The idea is to taste the same variety of coffee, prepared from the same machine, and with the same temperature of water, in different cups, to show that the form of the cup affects the taste of the coffee. Today, the world of coffee is growing increasingly analogous to that of wine, with its grands crus, its tastings, its careers, and its professionals. What more, the barista from L’Arbre à Café will be there on the stand to share his expertise with with us and help us understand the world of coffee.
I was looking for a strong message to help restaurateurs understand that no element in tableware should simply be left to chance, that every detail is important, even the form of something as simple as a cup of coffee. That’s how I designed this testing protocol, along with the help of Hippolyte Courty (Paris-based coffee sommelier, founder of L’Arbre à Café, and the darling of luxury hotels). Our stand will be expecting numerous visitors, all eager to take part in this test.
In terms of the crafting, I uphold harmony above all. The cup of coffee occupies a privileged place on the table, both at home and in the restaurant. It’s a rather major component that we shouldn’t ignore on any account, since it routinely forms the last point of contact of the dinner guest with the table, the last object that they handle: the convenience of the handle (avoiding stains, the ease of handling it whether from the right or the left, etc.), the ability to discreetly stir in milk or sugar, etc.
(Photo: Caprice Chocolate Square – Private Collection)
Sylvie Amar’s Background
Sylvie Amar
An alumna of ENSCI-Les Ateliers, Sylvia Amar opened her own design studio in 1997. Very swiftly, her sensibilities for the culinary universe led her to her first creation, the venerable meat tenderizer, and toward her first prominent collaboration with Pierre Gagnaire. These two foundational achievements formed the first of an approach that she has not ceased to explore and deepen ever since: the pursuit of functionality in service to the creativity and image of chefs.
Confident in her expert knowledge of the world and gastronomy, Sylvie Amar has rendered design as an instrument of overall support, all the way from the creation of objects to the treatment of spaces: a support that she has since extended toward consulting for brand identity and strategy.
As a partner for some of the biggest names in manufacturing businesses (Pillivuyt, Peugeot PSP, Matfer…), top hotel-restaurant groups (Accor, Louvre Hotels…), agricultural food industries (Nestlé, Cailler, CCDessert, Mer’Alliance…), and top chefs (Olivier Rœllinger, Jean-Michel Lorain, Jean-François Foucher…), she is sought out today from all over the world, most notably by Nousaku, the celebrated traditional Japanese foundry establishment, which have reached out to ask her to develop her first collection of tableware.
Laurent Delporte, an editor and conference speaker, is a strategic expert in the sector of hotels. A visionary, he brings his unique look on hotels in service to the decision-makers in the industry, whether to enhance the development of new projects or strategic visions.
Laurent has visited and audited over 350 hotels across the world and also participates in mystery visits to provide quality control for the world’s finest hotels.
