Flour + Water
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Architect: Lundberg Design
Featured product: Hold Pin 1.21 Pendant
When Flour + Water opened in 2009 it quickly earned acclaim for its California point-of-view on the Italian classic pasta and pizza dishes its name hints at. Nominated by the James Beard Foundation as the best new restaurant in the country and called “the neighborhood restaurant you want in your neighborhood” by GQ, Flour + Water became a beloved restaurant with a reputation for excellent food prepared and served with focus and simplicity.
Nearly 12 years after opening, Flour + Water closed for renovation in 2021. Founder and Chef Thomas McNaughton and his partners chose San Francisco architects Lundberg Design to redesign the space. Olle Lundberg and his team “wanted to connect the architecture to the qualities of the food and the story of the restaurant … We honor this Flour + Water craftsmanship with a simple palette of classic materials used in uncommon ways that highlight textures, the hands of their makers, and how they age over time.”
To light the entire dining room of the new Flour + Water, Lundberg chose SkLO Hold Pin 1.21 Pendants. Specified with white glass, dark oxidized brass, and black fabric-wrapped cords, the 17 individual pendants harmonize with the dark woods, patinated steel, and split-face marble which make up the material palette of the space.
The hand-blown glass of the Hold Pin Pendants and the synergy of the SkLO dedication to craftsmanship with that of the Flour + Water philosophy was not the only appeal. Lundberg also thought the molten nature of the design was also reminiscent of fresh mozzarella: “I had to take down the glass from my own Hold Pin Pendant at home and bring it to the meeting!”, Olle says.
Using multiple fixtures and composing them artfully within a single space, such as what Lundberg Design did at the Flour + Water dining room, allows for the handmade nature of SkLO lighting to become immediately evident. While each individual Hold Pin Pendant glass diffuser is the “same”, the small variations now become apparent. These small variations tell an important story about craft and elevate the design of a space, and the ambiance of a restaurant like Flour + Water.
