Dean & DeLuca STAGE by Ole Scheeren

Dean & DeLuca STAGE by Ole Scheeren is a new concept for a chef-led eatery design that puts a spotlight on the presentation and preparation of food and the people involved in the process. Conceived for Dean & DeLuca, New York’s legendary gourmet market and international curator of fine foods, STAGE – with its reference to a theatrical setting – embodies an interactive, contemporary notion of culture. STAGE is an object that is both recognisable and repeatable, but also integrates a sense of local specificity and uniqueness. Dean & DeLuca originated in September 1977 when Joel Dean, Giorgio DeLuca, and Jack Ceglic opened their first grocery store in an industrial space on Prince Street in Soho, Manhattan. During the 1970s and ‘80s, cultural icons from Robert De Niro to Donald Judd discovered a unique selection of food from around the world at the legendary New York gourmet market. Through its relentless exploration and inventive definition of culinary trends, it acquired a legendary status as one of New York’s iconic food institutions and leading international curator of fine food. Dean & DeLuca once again forays into the territory of discovery and exploration with the opening of STAGE, Ole Scheeren’s vision for a chef-led eatery design that celebrates food as a profound cultural and social experience. STAGE expands Dean & DeLuca’s existing gourmet market offering, introducing a new ‘small format’ that offers high-quality food to a sophisticated audience. The first Dean & DeLuca STAGE is located in New York’s Meatpacking District, one of the city’s most vibrant and lively neighbourhoods, in close proximity to the Whitney Museum of American Art and the High Line. A further Dean & DeLuca STAGE is expected to open in New York later this year. Food – its creation, presentation and enjoyment – is one of the most important shared human experiences. However, fast food is at the one of the spectrum which is predominantly solitary. STAGE is conceived as a social magnet, a spectacular showpiece that attracts and brings people together and encourages interaction between the people making and the people consuming the food. STAGE is a glowing, pristine object of polished stainless steel placed in the centre of the space: a theatrical STAGE for the presentation and celebration of food. Whilst most establishments feature a merely utilitarian sales and display counter pushed against the perimeter wall, STAGE is a central platform that allows people to circulate around it as they interact with the staff and watch their food being prepared. The space is given a focal point, and the STAGE becomes the energy centre for a theatrical interplay of ‘actors’ and ‘audience’. The continuous discovery of ingredients and the visual experience of the staff’s mastery in preparing the fresh delicacies change the perspective of fast food retail and redefine the relationship between customer and product. STAGE can be inserted into spaces of almost any kind and nature. Instead of concealing these interior “ENVELOPES” through fake decoration, existing spaces become ‘objets trouvés’: different contexts that retain their authenticity and diversity. STAGE is inserted into this raw context as an autonomous, flexible unit – a singular refined object, optimized and globally multipliable across diverse contexts and locations; a STAGE for the presentation and celebration of fine food. The formal autonomy and abstract identity of the STAGE allows its existence within the most diverse environments: the ENVELOPES of found or given spaces are maintained and stripped down to reveal their original local character. Through its highly reflective steel surfaces, the STAGE visually dematerializes and merges with the local ENVELOPES and diverse characters of the different contexts, turning each site into a unique experience. STAGE, as an emblematic and iconic object, defines Dean & DeLuca’s globally recognizable identity, while the found ENVELOPES embed the brand in locally specific contexts. STAGE contains an undulating TOPOGRAPHY milled from a solid block of white Corian, creating a dramatic landscape for the display and celebration of food and ingredients. The sculpted surface of the TOPOGRAPHY creates a multi-layered, high-tech food display system with the visual quality of a still-life painting. The food landscape conceals state-of-the-art technology under its delicate surface, with invisible heating and cooling units supplying the different service sections.