Michelin-star chef Sergio Herman and chef Nick Bril’s creative vision of a “fine dining meets rock ’n roll” themed restaurant was transformed into a reality by Dutch design studio Piet Boon. The high-end, contemporary restaurant named The Jane
was brought into existence by revamping the interiors of a church of a former military hospital in Antwerp, Belgium.
Based on their belief in authenticity, functionality and materials that ‘age beautifully’, Piet Boon decided to preserve most of the interior elements except for the utmost essential restoration required. The church’s high arched ceiling which also give a lavish feeling of a fine dining experience have been maintained to its original. The shared passion of the chefs and designers to work with luxurious materials is reflected in the interiors which makes use of natural stone, leather and oak wood.
The church’s main hall forms the main dining area of The Jane and can accommodate 65 persons at one time. The restaurant features a bar on the upper level called The Upper Room Bar seating upto 40 guests. The kitchen has been creatively planned at the position where once the altar used to be, and is enclosed within transparent glass walls enabling the visitors to view the cooking process.
Piet Boon collaborated with several leading creative partners like Studio Job, Mathieu Nab and .PSLAB and others to shape up the “fine dining meets rock ’n roll” concept.
Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel of Studio Job designed the windows consisting of 500 unique panels. Inspired by the chapel’s original function, foam spatulas, sunflowers, devils, skulls, babies, Jezus on the cross, dice, apple cores, wrenches, ice cream cones, a canon, croissants, penguins, trophies, gas masks and birthday cakes portray a contemporary translation of the old stained-glass windows. Archetypes from various worlds each tell masterpiece stories of good and evil, rich and poor, life and death as well as good food and religion.
Beirut-based design studio .PSLAB designed a 800 kg chandelier measuring 12 x 9 meters with over 150 lights in the centre of the restaurant The chandelier was created in such a way that it contributes to the intimate and ambient divinity of the chapel interior.
Together with Belgian company SERAX, specialized in decoration accessories, Piet Boon designed tableware that conveys a shared passion for attention to detail and perfection. Base by Piet Boon is a high quality bone white porcelain collection combining functionality and design. The tableware has high thermal stability, is lead- and cadmium free and will be featured in the upper room bar.
The Jane is truly a contemporary worship place for the lovers of food and design – serving haute cuisine in a mythical interior setting…Fine dining meets rock ’n roll at The Jane.