Sketch is a restaurant on 9 Conduit Street, Mayfair, London, England, which opened in 2003. The restaurant is owned by Mourad Mazouz and the head chef is Pierre Gagnaire. The cuisine is described as 'New French', and is a loose adaptation of the cuisine served in Gagnaire's three Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris and is executed by Frederic Don and Johannes Nuding. Mazouz came to public attention through the success of Momo, the North African restaurant and bar he opened in 1997 just off Regent Street, although he was already well known in France for his celebrated restaurants, Au Bascou and 404. The restaurant covers two floors of a converted 18th century site in Conduit Street, Mayfair. Its dining area contains a permanent exhibit of David Shrigley artwork, and Shrigley designed the restaurant's tableware.
9 Conduit Street history
9 Conduit is a Grade II listed townhouse in Mayfair, designed by English Architect James Wyatt in 1779 as the private residence of James Viner. Following that the building hosted a bizarre variety of societies and institutions that, according to some accounts, included cyclists, balloonists and psychologists, as well as the Suffragette movement in the early 20th century, the RIBA and Christian Dior. In 1887–1909 Conduit Street was converted into the headquarters of the Royal Institute of British Architects and still retains its plaque and crest in the entrance hall. During this time RIBA/AA hosted a competition to re-design the 18th century façade design and although this was never realised; the RIBA archive at the V&A retains some of the competition proposal drawings. The townhouse continued its interesting design legacy and history in the mid-20th century to become Christian Dior's London atelier, within which Dior housed his collections. During this time in the 1970s the listed interior was modified by the seminal mid-century architect and leading Popinterior designer and furniture maker Max Clendinning who designed cupboards, cubicles and display cases for Dior's ready to wear clothes and accessories. To combine the old and new, everything was painted a uniform mid-grey with a grey velvet Wilton carpet and grey uniformed attendants to “throw the clothes into sharper relief, and seems to conform with the classical, refined elegance of the House of Dior itself.” This austere style of monochromatic design was developed from his seminal 1960s signature white on white designs that marked the peak of British Modernism. When the building was taken over by Sketch the interior was re-designed by Mazouz and Paris-based designer and sculptor Noé Duchaufour Lawrance. Several other international designers were commissioned for signature pieces, which are featured throughout sketch.
Awards
In 2005 sketch was ranked as the 18th best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine. In 2008 and 2016 sketch won the AA Wine Award for England. sketch is the current owner of five rosettes from the AA. sketch lecture room & library was awarded its first Michelin star in 2005, its second star in 2012 and its third star in 2019.
