The message from chef Jonathan Balsløw Sørensen was clear: Everything needs your hands — except the kitchen. Don’t touch the kitchen. And indeed, everything did require a hand — or two dozen professional and friendly ones. The renovation would reveal itself to be a comprehensive one, as layers were peeled back from the canvas. Seeing the red terracotta tiles now gracing the floors of the Tuscan restaurant — which opened its doors in Copenhagen in the spring of 2024 — feels like a profound achievement in itself.
The path to get there involved hard work, but the approach remained fairly laissez-faire. “Rustico,” Jonathan would say when things didn’t go as planned. That embrace of imperfection became the spirit we tried to capture in our design. The restaurant is a home, and the frames should reflect its homeowners. In this case, the space is warm, familiar, and slightly tight — in a way that encourages conversation between neighboring tables. The atmosphere is neither judgmental nor selective, but instead welcomes everyone as part of an extended family. Needless to say, family is the focal point of this rather diminutive but larger-than-life restaurant on Møllegade — hence the tagline: “Trattoria, Bottega, Famiglia.”
Photography Kasper Kristoffersen
Assembled Words,
Creative Direction
& Styling Biensûr
The Trattoria is bathed in warm hues. A beige, tactile marble paint from St. Leo covers the walls, complementing the rustic red terracotta tiles. The dark, lacquered wooden chairs are vintage and the broderie anglaise lamps were sourced in Marseille.
A heavy moss-green wool fabric from Kvadrat was upcycled into new curtains by our creative friends to provide atmosphere and acoustics.
An intimite two-seater setting in the Bottega offers an open view into the kitchen. A countertop in Carrara marble and a plinth made of glazed terracotta tiles - found in a recycled construction market - decorate the bar.
Aldo Jacober folding chairs, sourced from a Swedish auction house, and classical newspaper hangers found in France complete the space.