Vive Le Chocolat

Annie Block -- Interior Design, 7/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Pierro Lissoni's 261 Note tables in lacquered aluminum or stained oak fromCassina. 800-770-3568;cassinausa.com. Photo by Matthew J. Wilson.

It's a long way from Paris to St. Louis. And not just geographically. But Epoch Design Group's S. Aleksandr Malinich closes the gap at Bissinger's: A Chocolate Experience, a 900-square-foot shop and lounge for the company that Karl Frederic Bissinger founded in 17th-century Paris.

"The premise was to bring Europe to St. Louis—dark, moody, and intimate," Malinich explains. He kept the materials palette simple: walnut veneer for the feature wall, wengé for the floor, polished plaster surfacing the columns. A run of opalescent backlit glass panels introduces candy colors. "They came from looking at marzipan," Malinich continues. "At night, they really breathe life into the space."

A source closer to home determined the colors of leather upholstering the Antonio Citterio armchairs: Raspberry and caramel are the favorite Bissinger's chocolate fillings of Malinich's wife.


Antonio Citterio's Simplice chairs for B&B Italia in the lounge. 800-872-1697;bebitalia.it. Photo by Matthew J. Wilson.