Hand Cut is a burger and chophouse restaurant located in Scottsdale, Arizona. The concept was to develop a restaurant that would be casual and inviting for lunchtime and then be able to transform into a sophisticated, sexy and upscale environment in the evening. This allowed us to explore and create interesting relationships between opposing genres and to create a balance based on contrasting combinations of furniture, lighting and materials. The result was a project that was casual yet sophisticated, traditional yet modern and serious yet playful. The design was developed to showcase the menu and highlight the philosophy of the restaurant which included a display kitchen and food prep area. The menu is definitely old school. Burgers, Steaks and chops. However, the authenticity and quality of the meats are “off the chart”.

We tried to reflect this language into our design. For example, many of the materials we used where extremely traditional such as classic brick, wood paneling and recessed stile and rail wall panels. However, we then layered the project with unexpected elements such as custom suspended steel cage lighting, chevron patterned floor/bar tile, re-bar planter walls, grass turf rugs and custom multi-media wall/ceiling murals.

The art images include knives, saws and a crazy mustached butcher. In addition, like the menu, the materials selected were very basic, honest and straight forward such as concrete, exposed duct work and rough finished wood. We then layered these materials with more refined elements such as Carrera marble walls, Roosevelt tufted furniture and crystal chandeliers. Some of the coolest features include a circular marble reception fixture with intricate brass detailing, a huge bar soffit with recessed panel detailing and a 20-foot-tall back-lit bottle display.