Zzetta – Alex J Needham

ZZETTA

Joinery / Furniture Design / Shop Fitting

Photography: Vincent Del Valle

Drawings: A Needham

Joinery: A Needham

Year: 2020

I was commissioned to work along side award winning architect Ruhel Ahmed to realise his vision for the interior of an artisan pizza restaurant. Located in a new building that stands on what was formerly the heart of Canning Town’s famous Rathbone market. Tasked to design and fabricate three sculptural dining tables, banquette seating and a pizza counter based on his initial concept drawings.

In recent years the market has lost its significance and has been reduced to a small square with a handful of stalls. Ruhel Ahmed designed a space that both celebrates the nostalgia of the market in its heyday and connects customers to the new square.

Speech bubbles displaying quotes from old newspapers, magazines, and social media hang in the air like the buzz of marketplace chatter, allowing customers to get a sense of the chaos, peculiarity, and vibrancy of Rathbone Market throughout the ages.

Each table has three dining surfaces connected at the centre by taller stacks. These vary in height and offer a shared surface to display condiments and ingredients like fresh produce in markets, whilst also creating a subtle separation between groups of customers.