Inside Selene: A Pared-Back Greek Restaurant Where Mythology Meets Minimalism

Who knew scrutinizing piles of fake foliage was part of a designer’s job? “There was a period of two months where we had bounties of faux olive coming to our office,” laughs Darcy Hanna of &Daughters. But that’s what it took for Hanna and co-founder Emma Sims to find the perfect tree for their design. In the end, they went with the real thing—installing a preserved olive tree as the focal point for their latest project, Selene Aegean Bistro.

Selene isn’t what you’d typically picture for a Greek restaurant. It’s the second time the duo have teamed up with Yianni and Petro Kerasiotis of Gaia House Hospitality Group, following their moody, Blade Runner-inspired speakeasy AMA Raw Bar. This time, the brief was for something less on the nose. So while you won’t find white stucco or vivid Santorini blues in the 2,100-square-foot space in Vancouver’s Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood, this pared-back design is as confident as it is understated, layering sun-bleached, tactile materials with mythological flourishes and subtle nods to the islands’ fishing and farming traditions.

“We wanted to reference some of the less obvious, more nuanced qualities like the ruins or the landscape of the islands as opposed to direct references to architecture,” says Sims. Following that vision, the designers assembled a “geological” base palette: quartz tables and countertops with subtle markings, grey plaster pony walls echoing the concrete floors, and braided rattan lampshades reminiscent of seaside cafés on the Greek islands.

“The strategy was that the largest elements in the space played a very neutral role,” adds Sims.

The rattan pendant shades, paired with simple cords and bulbs, brought warmth and texture without elaborate fixtures, a detail the designers note works just as well in residential settings.

That neutral backdrop also allowed them to feature mural artwork inspired by the name Selene. At the entrance, a fresco of the Greek moon goddess welcomes diners. She’s joined by delicate hand-painted moons, octopus, seashells and other Aegean Sea motifs, along with frescoes of fellow Greek immortals like Gaia, Uranus, Helios and Hyperion scattered across the restaurant’s lime-plaster walls.

“We thought it would be really amazing to leave all the walls clear and then have an artist come in and paint fresco-like imagery on them,” says Sims. The design team and client collaborated with local artist Emiko Mizukami to come up with the imagery. “Together we were brainstorming what the actual imagery and references would be,” says Sims. “But we knew all along that we were going to reserve the colour in the space for her work.”

Elsewhere, heritage and subtle cultural references are woven into tactile details, like the hemp rope-wrapped columns, handrails and bar stools. “We were looking at references to farm and fishing culture in Greece,” explains Sims. “We introduced rope to clad certain components in the space which we felt brought this rough earthiness to the space and a warmth that we wanted. It felt very humble and elemental.”

Solid pine Daumiller armchairs from Gubi reference the wood’s cultural significance in Greek mythology, its use in traditional building materials and the resin used to make Retsina. Finding the right dining chairs took a mix of luck and research. “We were able to find products that really tied in beautifully with the material palette that we established,” says Sims. “The use of pine in the project was important.”

Despite initial worries about comfort and size, the risky chair choice paid off. “The feedback from everybody has been that the chairs are super comfortable and beautiful,” says Sims. “They get lots of compliments on them, and that they’re a really pivotal part of the experience of dining in the space.”

But the most intensive design intervention blended the building’s past and present. Though the restaurant sits within a new building, heritage requirements from the city meant reconstructing the Mediterranean-style façade of the original house, complete with terracotta shingles, arched doors and windows—but there was a slight problem.

“They were too high,” laughs Sims. Because the original house sat several steps above street level, the replicated windows were nearly four feet above the new floor, cutting off sightlines and natural light.

The solution was to raise the dining area to meet them. “It became really apparent to us when we did our first walkthrough of the space that if we left the dining room at the grade of the entry when you walk in, then those windows [would be situated] above eye level,” says Hanna. “It wouldn’t [have been] a pleasant experience for the diner.”

Other practical moves, like concealing large mechanical equipment in the bar’s dropped ceiling, kept the focus on the atmosphere. Determined to stick to their natural, muted aesthetic, the designers “massaged and juggled” the restaurant floor plan to its current airy flow.

Above it all, a grid of LED ceiling tiles arranged behind a stained pine trellis creates the illusion of a skylight over the olive tree that sparked their search at the beginning of the project. “Very early on, [we had] this idea of having a very substantial olive tree as an anchor point,” says Sims. “It defines a transitional point between a number of different spaces.” The preserved tree now lives in a planter pony wall at the edge of the raised concrete platform, serving as a visual connection between the reception, kitchen, bar, and dining area.

“What’s important in all of our projects was really trying to weave a narrative, but also make that really cohesive food offering, branding and activity package,” says Hanna. “Focusing on fishing references, materiality and culture—all of these things reinforce the narrative of the project and make everything weave together.”

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