Cibrèo Restaurant

In 1990, Brian designed an integral artwork for architect Nigel Coates’ building The Wall in Tokyo.

The project involves a stained glass screen running along the full length and height of the main dining room of Cibrèo, an Italian restaurant occupying the top floors of the Post-Modern building. The painted, hand-cut collaged design was later reworked by Clarke at 1:1 scale, with revisions, for the fabrication of the work. The initial project included three figures from fashion shoots at his 1980s New York studio, photographed by Yoshihiko Ueda. The photographs, however, were omitted from the installed work.

The interior of the restaurant, founded by Florentine restaurateur Fabio Picki, was designed by Naoki Iijima and Marcia Iwatate. A blue canvas in oils from Clarke’s ‘Sienna’ paintings was also produced as part of the interior scheme. The Wall is located next to Nigel Coates' Penrose Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), a sister building of the London Institute for Contemporary Art, at the Nishi-Azabu Kasumicho intersection.

The 516-square-foot glass artwork uses a mix of daylight and concealed lighting to function through an 18-hour day, both within the restaurant and when viewed from the exterior, screening diners off from the outside world, pale during the day and glowing at night.

The 1993 catalogue Brian Clarke: Designs on Architecture writes:

'The top floor of a five-storey Nigel Coates building in Tokyo, the Cibrèo restaurant is, in comparison to other Brian Clarke projects, very intimate in scale. Responding to the limited space Clarke designed a work passive in colouration, interrupted by very restrained dynamic elements that recall his earlier painterly interest in Japanese screen painting and calligraphy.'