Credit Where It Belongs

Last week I was invited to lunch for some lovely clients whose bar I designed exactly 20 years ago.  They remembered July 20 1996 as being the launch date and the huge amount of money they took that night from what was then a very small outlet.

Since then La Rascasse (http://www.larascasse.com) has grown to fill the unit next door and all the land behind right into every corner.  It has been a huge success, commercially and in the way it has fulfilled it's owners needs, employed loyal staff and delighted customers. It is pretty well full most of the time.

My clients were kind enough to credit me with this success (and their staff blamed me sarcastically for their busy jobs) but that is not fair.  Great restaurants don't come from great designers.  It's the other way around. Great designers come from great clients who let them have the trust and freedom to create new, brave ideas.  I may have helped by sowing a seed but it took my clients years of cultivating it to make it grow into the success it has been.

It was a lovely lunch and my reward is I'm now going to get to design it all over again.

I can't wait to start.