In the Breuer Building’s New Restaurant, Marcel, a 360-Degree Design-Retail-Art Experience Takes Shape

It’s rare that one can dine at an upscale restaurant and not only order a meal but also the plates, glasses, flatware and candlesticks that accompany it. Even rarer is the ability to buy the art on the wall next to your table.

Such is the case at Marcel, the new French restaurant opening this week in Sotheby’s historic Breuer Building on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Every aspect of the project has been masterminded by Robin and Stephen Alesch, the power couple behind the firm Roman and Williams, who, in partnership with the auction house, own and operate the restaurant and oversaw its design. Outfitting the space are furnishings from the duo’s new Marcel collection—56 pieces, from lighting to tabletop to casegoods—all conceived with the Brutalist environs and their visionary creator in mind.

“We were definitely in dialogue with Breuer,” Robin Alesch tells ELLE Decor. “He was really a serial, curious collector and maker, and so are we. When we were in the room before the opening, testing recipes, sometimes I would say to Stephen, I feel like having dinner with him. It was like he was sitting there with us.”

The Naoya Arakawa Cordial Sake Glass and Hyssop vase from the Marcel Collection.

Marcel marks the second restaurant for the couple, following the 2017 launch of La Mercerie at their Roman and Williams Guild boutique in SoHo. They once again partnered with chef Marie-Aude Rose, who devised Marcel’s Continental-meets-classic-New York menu with a decidedly French accent.

For this project, the Alesches were able to take a comprehensive, 360-degree approach that was supported by Sotheby’s vast cultural ecosystem. One special element? Using a QR code, Marcel patrons are not only able to purchase, say, one of Roman and Williams’s beautiful, white-cast bronze Hyssop lamps or vases, but they can also order a rare vintage wine from Sotheby’s catalogue. Or, if they’re feeling bold enough, maybe a Lichtenstein. The dining room will feature a rotating selection of artworks and design objects from Sotheby’s, all for sale.

“There is really something very pioneering about the way the customer gets to interact with the pieces,” says Robin. “And then, if they’re ready for the next part of that journey, they can have them.”

The couple’s own design journey in creating this collection was rooted in research. Among the most significant pieces are the Marcel Bureaus (available in two sizes) and the Marcel Credenza. The items are made of black figured walnut, their faceted surfaces taking cues from the Cyclops eye on the building’s façade.

The Marcel Bureau from the Marcel Collection.

Other notable furniture pieces include Roman and Williams’s popular Stockholm dining chair, which has been shortened and widened to better fit the proportions of the restaurant and is now rebranded as the Stockholm Grande Coupe. The Kant bench is also a reissue with a twist: the bevels were designed to match those of the credenza, and its mohair fabric, a deep shade of burgundy, was sourced from the Pierre Frey archives.

Each of the restaurant’s 200 seats will feature a tabletop “meadow”—the designers’ term for the artful place settings—illuminated by the dulcet glow of Roman and Williams Lentium sconces and table lamps. The eclectic mix of plating and glassware features pieces created in Korea and Japan, nodding to Robin’s personal collection of prized Arita ware. Members of the Roman and Williams team spent two years making repeat visits to factories in the Arita region refining the custom plates and colorways.

The Hyssop Table Lamp within the interior of Marcel.

The stainless-steel flatware was also made in Japan, as was a collection of glassware by the Kyoto artisan Naoya Arakawa. These pieces—a vase, glasses, and bowls—were specifically commissioned by Roman and Williams, a first for the studio. More typically, the Alesches handpick pieces by artisans who work within the design spectrum they are trying to convey. “The glasses look like little buildings,” says Robin, emphasizing how much fun she and Alesch have had throughout the collaborative process. (Worth noting, the music—think Parisian Jazz Age vibes—comes courtesy of dear friend and Hollywood music supervisor Randall Poster.)

When not opening restaurants or redesigning museum galleries, the endlessly in-demand couple head to their home in Montauk, where they develop ideas in a guest house-turned-laboratory. “It’s peaceful, designing a collection,” says Robin. “There’s something poetic for us in just saying, wow, we want to create a collection that is very much a part of this space but has its own language and story.”