From Trastevere to Williamsburg, With a New Design

Design Brooklyn, a new Tumblr blog from writer Anne Hellman and photographer Michel Arnaud, profiles the design of the new Williamsburg restaurant Antica Pesa, which set up in the old Planet Thailand space. The first Antica Pesa restaurant is actually located in Rome, and owners Francesco and Simone Panella chose the Williamsburg location “because it reminds them of the artsy Trastevere district where their original establishment resides, a neighborhood that sits across the Tiber from central Rome much as Williamsburg sits across the East River from Manhattan,” explains Design Brooklyn. The interior was handled by Williamsburg-based Brooklyn Architectural Coop, or BArC Studio, which sought to combine an Italian dining experience with a Williamsburg feel. BArC Studio broke up the cavernous restaurant into a series of intimate spaces, using materials with a warm, natural feel such as leather, wood, brass and tile. There is also some Fornasetti wallpaper!
Photo by Michel Arnaud