Our involvement in the restaurant interior design project of Rechna Gara in Vidin, Bulgaria began even before the venue had a name. The owner contacted us as soon as he secured the location and had the vision to create a new restaurant in Vidin that would become a key culinary and social hub for the region.

At the very beginning of the project, several key elements necessary to start the restaurant interior design process were still missing: the name, the target audience, the event management concept, and most importantly for a hospitality business of this scale – the restaurant branding. For this reason, we connected the client with our partners from branding agency Hyperzon.

We prepared a detailed creative brief for the branding agency, outlining everything required to begin the interior architecture and design of the restaurant. This included preserved corporate fonts, brand identity elements such as logo design, wallpaper patterns, brand colors suitable for both print and interior applications, and visual elements that reflect the regional identity and the restaurant’s culinary concept. All these elements were later actively integrated into the restaurant interior design.

The next stage involved meetings with the head chef to understand the type of cuisine and the dining experience the restaurant should deliver to its guests. We also worked closely with the event manager, because a successful restaurant in Vidin must operate across multiple dayparts and event formats – from breakfast, brunch, and lunch, to afternoon gatherings, dinner service, themed culinary evenings, cocktail events, DJ parties, and private events such as weddings and family celebrations.

To support this complex multi-functional hospitality concept, Restaurant Rechna Gara required well-designed lighting, clear spatial zoning, flexibility, and adaptable layouts – all key elements in the interior design of modern restaurants and hospitality venues. The concept was designed to accommodate:

• breakfast and morning coffee

• brunch

• lunch

• afternoon meetings and social gatherings

• dinner service

• themed culinary evenings

• cocktails and DJ parties

• private events – weddings, proms, and family celebrations

Elements from the brand book – such as anchors, nautical ropes, anchor patterns, and watercolor-style backgrounds – were carefully integrated into the restaurant interior concept. We also introduced a subtle industrial design influence by incorporating metal and raw wood, materials typical for river ports and docks along the Danube.

To balance this industrial aesthetic, we added elegance and warmth through soft diffused lighting, upholstered furniture, textiles, and the signature decorative fish-scale element featured at the bar.

In order to complete the entire restaurant interior design and build project within the seemingly impossible deadline of four months, the whole project was produced off-site, loaded onto trucks, delivered, and installed on location. This included everything from the external Italbond façade cladding of the building, to the glass installations, wallpapers, tiles, and custom upholstered furniture, all manufactured by contractors in Istanbul.