JBF LTD
Chelsea Market
75 Ninth Avenue
New York
Web: popup.jamesbeard.org
April 12 to May 14
Design: James Biber
One of the most prominent design elements at JBF LTD, a temporary restaurant in Chelsea Market, is a giant “dining calendar” that marks the passing of days until this pop-up goes poof. The James Beard Foundation partnered with architect James Biber on JBF LTD—limited being the key word—a restaurant whose lifespan coincides with the Beard Foundation’s annual awards ceremony.
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Biber has created a space that reminds potential diners just how urgent it is that you eat there before it’s gone. Four long communal tables, as well as the windows and the waiters’ shirts, are filled with calendar numbers that are crossed out for every day that passes. But the temporary nature of the restaurant also posed a design challenge: the 4,000-square-foot space, a former clothing store, could not be altered in any permanent way.
Biber’s answer was to create a “modern insert in the rustic space to provide the contrast and excitement,” transforming it with strategic use of products from IKEA, McMasters, and Bulbs.com (including dozens of strands of Christmas tree lights). The resulting black and white color scheme offers a cool contrast to the warm exposed brick walls of Chelsea Market.