“My restaurant is a total concept, with lighting playing a major part.” Early last February, Olivier Bruckner (age 32), a native of Brussels, opened La Tentation (“temptation”), an extremely trendy venue on Boulevard d'Avroy in Liege. The interior has been meticulously decorated, and lighting adds the necessary ambiance. Because Bruckner aims to “tempt” his patrons, especially since he gave in to temptation himself at the Cebeolightstudio showroom.
La Tentation is much more than just a restaurant, Bruckner explained to us. “It’s a total concept that I developed on my own. In addition to food service, it includes interior decoration, an open kitchen, music, plasma screens and lighting as key components.”
Design
To light up his restaurant, the chef turned to Cebeolightstudio in Namur. Cebeo representative Philippe Houbben convinced him of how crucial proper lighting can be. “To be honest, I was unaware of how much value lighting can add to a restaurant. I found out at Cebeolightstudio,” said Bruckner. “The showroom in Namur is positively dazzling. I told them all about the interior at La Tentation – lots of gray and black lower down, and brownish hues higher up. I looked over the fixtures in the showroom, then I checked out a number of catalogues. After that, Christine Verly, their lighting specialist, came to take a look around my restaurant. The Cebeo people advised me, but in the last analysis, I was the one to choose. It didn’t take long for me to come to a decision. I never dawdle in cases like that; I trust my gut feeling. I chose the armatures and fixtures above all on aesthetic grounds. And I’m extremely pleased with the results.”
Functionality
Because the upper and lower levels are designed differently, Bruckner also opted for different armatures. In the kitchen, he went for functional lighting, but not entirely at the expense of design. “Although these are fixtures you sometimes encounter in industrial environments, you see more and more of them in homes as well,” he said.
Feedback
Now that his restaurant is up to full speed, Bruckner is more convinced than ever that choosing the right lighting is an issue not to be underestimated. “Lighting is vital in creating atmosphere, just as music is, for example,” he stated. “Lighting was no minor item in my budget, but it’s turned out to be a wise investment. The positive feedback I’ve gotten from customers when they come here for the first time speaks for itself.”
Bruckner is also extremely pleased to have joined up with Cebeo. “You bet I’m pleased,” he assured us. “If this restaurant keeps working as well as it has been, I’m definitely going to use the same concept elsewhere. And once again, I’ll be doing business with Cebeolightstudio.”
