Wes Archives

Following the release of American filmmaker Wes Anderson’s eleventh motion picture Asteroid City, we have collected eight interiors that embody his distinctive cinematic style for our latest lookbook.

Anderson is known for his retro pastel colour palettes and use of symmetry, as seen in the sets from his latest feature film that are currently the subject of an exhibition at London’s 180 the Strand.

From a Milanese cafe designed by the director himself to a quirky makeup store in China that was styled to mimic 1970s offices, here are eight interiors that were either directly influenced by Anderson or look as if they are taken straight out of one of his films.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring bedrooms with bathtubs, Parisian apartments and striking art gallery interiors.

Bottle shop informed by Wes Anderson with central wooden counter and displays on either side — Photo is by Ye Rin Mok

Boisson, USA, by Studio Paul Chan

Local firm Studio Paul Chan took cues from the opening scene of Anderson’s 2021 film The French Dispatch when designing the interiors for this bottle shop by non-alcoholic drinks brand Boisson in Los Angeles.

Elements of mid-century Hollywood design and art deco were combined in a space that includes walnut-stained wooden wall panelling, dusty green accents and a bespoke glass-block counter.

Find out more about Boisson ›

A yellow and orange store interior — Image is courtesy of AIM Architecture

Harmay store, China, by AIM Architecture

A colour palette of muted yellow, orange and brown characterises this shop by makeup brand Harmay, which is set across the renovated second floor of a business park in Hangzhou.

Chinese studio AIM Architecture designed the space to mimic a 1970s office by using rows of yellow desks to display stock and incorporating a retro woollen carpet and frosted-glass sliding “meeting room” doors.

“Creating an ‘old fashioned’ physical retail experience in an actual office space just seemed a fun way to translate this duality of space and time,” the studio’s founder Wendy Saunders told Dezeen.

Find out more about this Harmay store ›

Shelves and a fridge inside a cannabis dispensary — Photo is by Alex Lysakowski

The Annex, Canada, by Superette

The vivid colour palettes and geometric shapes often associated with Anderson’s cinematography also feature at The Annex, a marijuana dispensary in Toronto that was modelled on Italian delis.

Green and beige checkerboard flooring was paired with deli props, tomato-red stools and hanging pendant lights while various cannabis paraphernalia was laid out like groceries.

Find out more about The Annex ›

Bar Luce by Wes Anderson — Photo is by Roland Halbe

Bar Luce, Italy, by Wes Anderson

Created by Anderson himself, Bar Luce is located within the OMA-designed Fondazione Prada in Milan.

Pastel colours and veneered wood panelling were applied to the space, which was designed to reference iconic city landmarks and cafes – particularly those dating back to the 1950s and 60s.

“I tried to make it a bar I would want to spend my own non-fictional afternoons in,” said the filmmaker, who stressed that the bar was not designed as a set but rather as a “real” place.

Find out more about Bar Luce ›

Interior of Cafe Bancado with colour palette informed by Wes Anderson — Photo is by Mikael Lundblad

Cafe Banacado, Sweden, by ASKA

Cafe Banacado is an all-day breakfast cafe in Stockholm designed by local architecture studio ASKA.

ASKA followed “a strong symmetry” when creating the interiors, which feature checkerboard flooring, arched mirrors and a sunny colour palette that was specifically chosen to evoke the dreamlike atmosphere of Anderson’s films.

Find out more about Cafe Banacado ›

The Budapest Cafe by Biasol — Photo is by Derek Swalwell

The Budapest Cafe, Australia, by Biasol

Local studio Biasol designed this salmon-hued cafe in Carlton, Melbourne, to reference Anderson’s 2014 feature film The Grand Budapest Hotel – in particular its symmetrical compositions and “nostalgic” colour palettes.

Stylised steps to nowhere decorate the walls, while a curved archway frames a glossy point-of-sale counter with a tubular base finished in terracotta.

Find out more about The Budapest Cafe in Melbourne ›

Budapest Cafe informed by Wes Anderson — Photo is by James Morgan

The Budapest Cafe, China, by Biasol

Biasol also designed another outpost for The Budapest Cafe in Chengdu, China, that references the titular film.

Here, Biasol combined pastel shades and marble surfaces with similar chunky elevations to those found in the Melbourne cafe. The centrepiece of the room is a tiered terrazzo seating area topped with a pink ball pit and an original Eero Aarnio Bubble chair.

Find out more about The Budapest Cafe in Chengdu ›

Hotel Palace restaurant, Finland, by Note Design Studio

When Note Design Studio renovated a restaurant within Helsinki’s Hotel Palace, the Swedish firm set out to honour the history of the modernist building, which was opened in time for the city’s 1952 Summer Olympics.

Teak panelling, luxurious teal carpet and expansive windows lend themselves to a cinematic atmosphere, while white tablecloths add a touch of glamour to the space, where visitors can imagine Anderson’s characters dining.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring bedrooms with bathtubs, Parisian apartments and striking art gallery interiors.

Reference

An exhibition of the 1950s sets, props, miniature models, costumes and artwork used in Wes Anderson’s latest film Asteroid City has opened at 180 The Strand in London.

The exhibition was designed to immerse visitors in the film’s fictitious world – a desert town in 1950s America famous for its meteor crater and celestial observatory.

Exterior sign post for the Asteroid City exhibition at 180 The Strand — The exhibition is on display at London’s 180 The Strand

Its aim was to give visitors insight into the “1950s Americana world the film is set in”, said Asteroid City associate producer Ben Alder.

Asteroid City was filmed on flat farmland in Spain, with the buildings made for the film set up to appear like a town.

A model train on a rail track — The exhibition features large sets

“Everything you see in the film was physically built and laid out in a way that gave the actors and crew the sense of living in this real town,” Alder told Dezeen.

“The exhibition is a great way for people to see how much work went into all the elements of the film, like the costumes, because you can spend more time looking at how they are made and how much care went into them.”

Three character costumes in the Asteroid City film arranged around a desert patch with wooden shacks in the background — Film sets used in the Asteroid City movie are on display

Pieces in the exhibition are spread across three main spaces, with audio clips and parts of the film projected onto walls referencing scenes relevant to the nearby displays.

“The idea was to use the largest open space for the sets to give people the sense of how big they were on the film, and you can imagine how massive our Asteroid City town was,” said Alder.

Film costumes and props displayed at the Asteroid City exhibition — Costumes and props are on display

“Then there’s another space that’s a more traditional gallery-type curation where you can see smaller objects and props, going into the details of the characters,” Alder continued.

Mimicking the exterior of the cafe featured in the film, a temporary wooden structure decorated with menu lettering and a desert scene spans the entrance of 180 The Strand.

Sets displayed in the exhibition include white wooden residential shacks, a train carriage and a bathroom scene.

Other life-sized scenery props include telephone booths, billboard posters and humourous vending machines that dispense martinis and bullets in the film.

A row of colourful vending machines as part of a film set — The exhibition provides a close-up view of the Asteroid City film props

“There are moments where visitors are invited to be in the sets and interact with them,” said Alder.

“Not only can visitors see all the pieces from the film really closely but they can go inside some of the sets – they can sit inside the train compartment, recreate the scene with [actor] Scarlett [Johansson] in the window, or go into the telephone booth – which is something really special that not a lot of exhibitions have.”

Asteroid City exhibition with a model train and cactus — Visitors can explore a desert set

Some of the character costumes are arranged together with set pieces to recreate scenes from the film.

Also on display are puppets made by Andy Gent, who previously created puppets for Anderson’s films Isle of Dogs and Fantastic Mr Fox, and a series of glass flowers used in a stop-motion animation sequence where they transition from blooming to wilting.

Interior of a 1950s-style diner with a chalk board menu — The Asteroid City exhibition showcases many details from the film

The exhibition ends with a recreation of a luncheonette featured in the movie, where visitors can order food and drink.

It has a 1950s-style decor, with stools lined up along the service bar, pastel-coloured blinds and the image of a desert landscape framed inside fake windows.

1950s diner film set with square brown floor tiles and steel stools along the service bar — A 1950s-style cafe is at the end of the exhibition

Asteroid City is out in cinemas now.

Anderson is known for his distinctive film aesthetic, typified by retro influences and pastel colours. Interiors that have been informed by the director’s style include a pastel-yellow breakfast cafe in Sweden and a bottle shop in Los Angeles with mid-century influences.

The photography is courtesy of Universal Pictures and 180 Studios.

The Asteroid City exhibition is on display at 180 The Strand in London from 17 June to 8 July 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Reference

Wes

Eight retro interiors that capture the mood of a Wes Anderson film

Asteroid City exhibition immerses visitors in Wes Anderson’s film sets

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