Palate palette: How Shelby Cotton became the most sought-after restaurant designer in Central Arkansas
It was never Shelby Wittenberg Cotton’s dream to become a mainstay in the Central Arkansas restaurant scene. But 12 years after masterminding the design of iconic Little Rock pizzeria Raduno Brick Oven & Barroom, Cotton has become an in-demand design diva for local restaurants looking to create a unique, comfortable atmosphere for customers. Now, with designs for stylish businesses like Mt. Fuji, Problem Child Pizza, The Attic Bar and more under her belt, she can’t imagine doing anything else.
Cotton’s career began at AMR Architects in Little Rock, where she worked after earning a degree in interior design from the Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia. But following the birth of her two children, she spent the majority of the next two decades as a homemaker, taking only a few design odd jobs as they came her way. One of those one-off opportunities came from Bart Barlogie, who in 2014 was dreaming of opening a bold, Italian-inspired restaurant in the historic SoMa district — an area that was seeing an influx of development after decades of decline.
“My first real big opportunity was working with Bart Barlogie on Raduno, and that was the path that started me in the restaurant and bar bubble. Raduno became my first solo restaurant,” Cotton said. “It just happened and I fell in love with it. It was not intentional but a happy accident.”
Cotton credits Barlogie with getting her back in the game by trusting her to figure out how to translate his ideas into the long, skinny room that would soon become Raduno.
“Right out the shoot, Raduno was a challenging space because of the shape and length. One of the design elements that really changed it was the long banquet and adding the faux windows over it that were really mirrors because visually that really opened the space up,” Cotton said. “I’m proud of the way that it balanced out and worked out. To this day, 10 years later, it’s just as effective and comfortable as it was when we did it.”
That intentional investment in Raduno’s layout paid off, with the eatery being crowned as the Best Overall Restaurant in Little Rock/North Little Rock in 2024, 2025 and 2026 in the annual Arkansas Times Readers Choice poll, among several other honors.
Now a full-time designer and the owner of SWC Designs, Cotton’s resume also includes Swing Social, Deluca’s Pizza in West Little Rock’s Breckenridge Village, and the downtown Little Rock and Conway locations of Big Bad Breakfast.
Cotton attributes her success to a commitment to helping clients from the start of the development process to the day a restaurant opens its doors.
“I keep my business very small, and it works for me. I get very involved with the client and the space. I did that with Raduno, and as I left that project, I knew that this formula worked for me,” Cotton said. “I’m hands-on, there with the contractor during the week solving problems. And I was there putting the last nail in the wall for the last piece of art. And I’ve tried to stay with that formula because it works for me and I think it gives a better product to my client.”
Despite keeping her operation small, Cotton has shown the ability to design a diverse array of settings for her clients. Her style — across barrooms, pizza joints, breakfast spots and upper-scale dining — pairs a modern aesthetic with homey comfort. For example, Raduno balances a sleek look defined by hardwood floors, low yellow lighting and a long, polished bar with the welcoming, almost communal vibe of a neighborhood pizza shop. The long, plaid booth stretching down the opposite wall helps create the feeling that you’re sitting down with friends and family, even if there are total strangers to your right or left.
Big Bad Breakfast in downtown Little Rock follows a similar playbook, but with a bold yellow and brown color scheme that makes the space feel like a cozy yet upscale diner. Cotton recently was contracted to develop the design of Big Bad Breakfast’s Conway location, where she brought in decor from various local businesses to increase community buy-in with the new restaurant.
Cotton also left her mark on fan-favorite pizza joint Problem Child in Midtown, which feels punky and playful enough for a night out with your cool friends, but contains enough dark wood and leather that your parents wouldn’t feel out of place if you took them there for dinner on a visit from out of town.
One of Cotton’s most memorable projects is the Attic Bar, a speakeasy that bills itself as “Little Rock’s worst-kept secret.” A downtown spot that opened up above Back Home BBQ in August, the Attic Bar’s design was conceptualized almost entirely from Cotton’s brain, according to owner Adam Murray.
“For the Attic Bar, she was like, ‘What do you want to do?’” Murray said. “And I said, ‘I don’t know, I’m going to call the place the Attic Bar.’ And that’s all I told her, and she was like, ‘I got this.’ All the tables and chairs and furniture and decorations — she picked out everything. She asked for the budget, and she was really good about not just spending our money. She was very mindful and thoughtful about the budget.”
Before the snow and ice hit Little Rock the night of Friday, Jan. 23, groups of friends were braving the cold to trudge up the steep stairs leading to the Attic Bar. With the room’s ambient lighting, various nooks of seating with unique personalities and low music, it was clear the Attic Bar is quickly emerging as a great place to get drinks after work and settle in for some quality conversation. Each of the corner areas has tastefully offbeat chairs and coffee tables that feel plucked by a resourceful thrifter, with funky art adorning the walls to boot.
Murray described the vibe as “relaxed and adult,” somewhere where you can grab a nice cocktail and unwind after the workday. Already emanating a solidly lived-in vibe, the bar feels like it could be downtown’s equivalent of the coffee shop in ’90s sitcom “Friends” or the bar in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
In just a few short years, Cotton has put her mark on many of the restaurants that define Little Rock’s food scene. And she’s not slowing down. While Cotton wouldn’t disclose what her next projects will be, she did say she was very excited about some design work in Conway, Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas.
“I like this job from the beginning to the end. I like sitting at my desk and drafting the space and realizing its potential, and that each one starts from nothing and it reveals itself. But I also enjoy the three-dimensional nature of the job, the layering, and getting the client in the space and working with them on how the place will be run and getting into the nitty-gritty,” Cotton said. “Then you see the space that has gone from being empty to something where there are 20 people running around with food, and it’s exciting.”
