Claudine began with a brand paradox.

Named after Chef Julien Royer’s mother, the concept was deeply personal. Yet Julien’s name was synonymous with the upper echelons of fine dining. The immediate concern was brand conflation—that Claudine would be perceived as formal, rarefied, and occasion-led before guests experienced it.

Working closely with Julien, we set out to reshape that expectation by expressing Claudine as a different facet of his philosophy. Where Odette represents precision at the highest level, Claudine embodies generosity and warmth. 

We led the strategic positioning and narrative architecture to establish this separation clearly. Tone of voice centred on family, memory, and the rituals of gathering. Communications signalled accessibility without compromising credibility.

In collaboration with Nice Projects, the spatial transformation reinforced this intent. Guests dine within a restored colonial chapel—a setting that could easily feel imposing. Instead, the design references the visual language of French brasserie culture while preserving key architectural features. The deep red gabled roof, a 15-metre suspended paper lamp, and a brass-backed bar set beneath original stained-glass windows anchor the room with warmth rather than grandeur.

A first-of-its-kind immersive artwork installation by This Humid House, composed of pressed locally foraged grasses preserved within 50 custom glass panels, introduces tactility and intimacy, softening the scale of the heritage structure while embedding locality into the experience.

Claudine demonstrates our ability to manage founder equity at scale. By aligning narrative, architecture and brand expression, we created a concept that could stand independently, commercially distinct, and structurally clear within a larger portfolio.