Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/685770
36 PalletCentral • May-June 2016 palletcentral.com n 2012, the Glowbal Restaurant Group converted its Moroccan-themed restaurant, Sanafir, into an upbeat seafood destination to better suit the changing demographic of Vancouver's trendy Granville strip neighborhood. The owners wanted to give patrons an authentic dining experience in a relaxed, unfussy environment. The Fish Shack's décor is best characterized as "dockside chic," a concept that was inspired by nearby commercial fishing wharfs, worker's cabins, and cafes along the Vancouver waterfront. Among its most prominent features are used wooden shipping pallets, which dominate the eatery's soaring walls. Other salvaged objects such as natural rope, cleats, marine bollards, and vintage pulleys and hooks amplify the DIY aesthetic of the popular gathering place. Just what is a shack ? "We started with a large space, a name and a menu," said Cynthia Penner, principal of BOX Interior Design, the Vancouver-based firm that conceived and executed the remodel. "We asked ourselves: What do we feel when we think of the word 'shack'? How can we tell a visual story that conveys the spirit and energy of Vancouver's dockside culture and conveys the sense of a shack?" The BOX design team, consisting of Penner, Jay Brooks and Tara Griggsmiller, considered how to embrace the nautical theme without being trite or overly cliché; how to create warmth, texture and intimacy within a concrete double height space; and importantly, how to compress what would typically be a six-month process into six weeks and do it on a tight budget. "We wanted to tell a compelling story and to achieve a look that was unstructured, spontaneous, fresh and yet deeply familiar," Penner said. "The double story walls allowed us to be bold in our vertical expressions, and when we landed on the idea of using old wooden shipping pallets, it was the perfect solution. Pallets are everywhere around the docks. They're an essential part of dockside culture, and the pallet walls are impactful due to their scale," she said. Roughly 90 pallets, affixed to strapping at periodic intervals, hang on the walls and ceiling of the Fish Shack. "They add amazing texture and are consistent with the DIY theme of using simple objects that are common in everyday life," Penner said. "Most of the pallets were sourced by our contractor, who found that people were generally happy to donate them. We asked him to find the ones with the most character, meaning showing wear, marked, written on, or otherwise distressed." Dockside Chic: Vancouver's Fish Shack Restaurant By Leah Wheeler The Glowbal Group I