#le turtle

[thethirdbear]

[ninetynine-centdreams]

Le Turtle

NYC

Leta Sobierajski, Wade Jeffree

photo by Scottie Cameron

[sunmeetsflower]

LETA SOBIERAJSKI & WADE JEFFREE: BRANDING: U.S.

Artists' Statement: "Le Turtle is a French new-wave restaurant founded by Taavo Somer of Freemans and Carlos Quirarte of The Smile. Blanca alum Greg Proechel steers the menu along with wines curated by Jessie Keifer from all corners of France. Sitting cool on the corner of Chrystie and Rivington streets, the 18-table restaurant is bathed in neon lights, draped in pink velvet and Horween leather, and set to a soundtrack of French hip-hop. The waitstaff is costumed in baggy, steel-gray prison jumpsuits which weave back and forth behind the two-way mirrors and travertine bar. Taking notes from psychedelic symbology and visual occult, we sighted references such as The Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky, the paintings of Victor Vasarely, the architectural notes of Carlo Scarpa, and Sol Lewitt in order to help us realize our vision for Le Turtle. We put a strong emphasis on raw materials as well as angles and curves to create a distinct brand language for the restaurant. We developed a bespoke typeface for Le Turtle to use on all printed materials as well as an iconography set for web and print.

[ninetynine-centdreams]

Le Turtle

New York, NY

Leta Sobierajski,  Wade Jeffree,  Scottie Cameron

[satanandsundaes]

[ninetynine-centdreams]

Le Turtle

Leta Sobierajski,  Wade Jeffree

[thotsonfood]

But styles age. The premodern look increasingly appears to be a studiously crafted illusion — all the harder to swallow because it asks us to see it not as mere set dressing but as the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual purity.

Sooner or later, a trend-conscious restaurateur had to realize that the 19th century had overstayed its welcome. It happens to have been Taavo Somer, whose first restaurant, Freemans, was the most complete and successful statement of the antler aesthetic. Together with Carlos Quirarte, owner of the artfully rustic cafe the Smile, he opened what they call a “French new wave” restaurant on the corner of Chrystie and Rivington Streets in December. It goes by the gloriously fake-Gallic name Le Turtle.

Replacing the artificially genuine with genuine artifice, Le Turtle’s dining room mixes building materials that have nothing in common but their shiny new surfaces.

Pete Wells. Le Turtle. The New York Times.