Maurice Mentjens immersed himself in Asian culture for the concept of the design of Thaiphoon. One of the aspects of modern Asian society that most intrigued him was the mix of hypermodern elements and traditional, classic elements; a mix that we in the West see as so peculiar.
Thaiphoon is a Western mix of modern and traditional oriental elements – both in imagery and the materials used – in continually changing contexts.
Tradition, religion, nature and natural materials versus commerce, high-tech, plastic and kitsch; Buddha statues, a golden decorated room, a wooden house and snakeskin in synergy with a neon wall, concrete constructions, gleaming white walls and coloured plexiglass.
Once through the entrance, resembling an oriental temple with monumental heavy wooden beams and golden mosaics, you enter the bar area with one wall made of luminous coloured beams, which slowly change colour, like the illuminated advertising displays in Tokyo and Bangkok. The wall opposite is covered entirely with snakeskin and flashing lamps. Concrete structures cut through the building and are echoed in the various following rooms. The long wooden bar continues into the conservatory area, with a view into the gleaming white kitchen with stainless steel equipment, framed with black granite.
The next room is the large restaurant dining room with red wooden tables and modern bucket seats. Here, too, the walls are covered with exotic snakeskin, and on the other side are wooden-walled compartments with a mysterious black interior. The first black room is the cloakroom with a magical blue light effect. Next to this is a dramatically spot-lit wooden stairway, followed by a smaller, more intimate black restaurant dining room with a high gloss black reflective ceiling with red plexiglass lamps; a modern variation on the red paper Chinese lanterns reflected in a ceiling of Japanese lacquerwork. At the back of the large dining room is the conservatory overlooking the garden, with large wooden columns, a large glass roof and a wall of Buddha statues.
