Geneva’s cosmopolitan culinary landscape had yet to flaunt a true Nordic restaurant before the arrival of the polished, minimalist Fiskebar, a quartet of atmospheric rooms situated within the Ritz-Carlton Hotel de la Paix. Conjured by London-based B3 Designers, Fiskebar’s debut coincides with the stately revamp of the entire circa-1865 property, a fabled playground for dignitaries and celebrities that rebranded in 2017 as part of Marriott’s luxe portfolio.
Italian design firm Il Prisma and Milan-based architect and designer Barbara Casati worked in collaboration to transform the 74-room hotel into a grand but contemporary space that stars a marble lobby punctuated by bursts of pink and a sculptural drop chandelier. Atrium corridors are lined with tapestries and the Grace Kelly suite, an homage to one of the hotel’s most famous guests of yore, is an Art Deco showstopper swathed in gold.
Inspired by nature, Fiskebar embodies a similar textural richness. Glass wall tiles, for instance, channel the hotel’s locale on the banks of Lake Geneva and elicit “coldness through its reflective, watery, fish-scale effect,” says Mark Bithrey, creative director of B3. In the formal restaurant, handblown glass light fixtures are arranged in clusters, tables topped with slate are enlivened by brass details, and a deep green velvet banquette brings a jolt of jewel-toned intrigue. London ceramicist Adam Ross’ installation, an abstract depiction of oysters, is amplified against the dining room’s prevailing backdrop of weathered gray timber. “The wood harks back to that warehouse restaurant you might find on the waterfront in Copenhagen,” says Bithrey. Oak flooring and distressed ceiling beams seamlessly lead to the more casual Raw Kitchen Counter. Here, guests perch at communal tables underneath tubular pendant lighting.
For the cocktail bar, purportedly the space where the 1949 Geneva Convention was drafted, Bithrey and his team were limited, having to integrate such heritage-listed elements as the wall paneling, parquet and walnut flooring, and French moldings “that were painted a dark, somber maroon,” he points out, into the renovation. With B3’s use of a light, copper-colored paint finish, the moldings now emulate a Venetian-style distressed fresco and plaster effect, infusing the bar with warmth. Especially cozy is the adjacent lounge, petite and dominated by a blue velvet banquette.