superfine

Full design and creative direction. Bentonville, Arkansas, 2022. Architect: Jessi Mueller. Contractor: Salt Group.

Superfine is a sweet shop on South Main in Bentonville. It started as a bare commercial shell, and I designed the whole thing: floors, walls, ceiling, light, furniture, the wallpaper in the bathrooms. It’s marigold and pink from top to bottom and there is no neutral surface anywhere in it.

The client came in wanting something bold. I wanted to find out how far bold could go before it stopped being a room and became a stunt. We called it Tokyo Drift, speed and sensory overload as a design brief. The centerpiece is Flavor Paper’s collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation, After the Last Supper in Warhol’s black, coral, and hot pink, a sacred image turned into a picture of appetite. Their banana print wraps the columns. Their cherry and lips papers cover the restroom walls and ceilings, with red neon and pink mirror wainscot underneath. The light is a nod to Dan Flavin: fluorescent tubes wash the whole room marigold. Ghost chairs with blush legs. A painting of a disco ball. Pink pendant globes.

The contractor said it was one of the wildest spaces they had ever been part of. I take that as the review. What I learned is that a small commercial room, argued all the way through, can do what a much bigger budget usually can’t: people drive to see it, photograph it, and remember it. No famous names. No enormous budget. Just a client who trusted the idea and a room that kept its nerve.