WIT: Cang Su-Style Restaurant – Dual Ambience
After two years of silence, the Cang Su-style restaurant opens its doors in Beijing. Following years of operation at the original Cang Su, the founder decided to partner with WIT to elevate the restaurant to new heights.
As a fixture in Beijing’s high-end dining scene, the new space represents a fusion and evolution, both visually and in spirit. Much like Tibetan culture itself, it draws nutrients from other civilizations in a continuous process, achieving renewed vitality.
1. Hide and Tibet: The Dual Essence of Cang Su
The journey into Cang Su unfolds with ceremonial grace. Nestled discreetly within a park of exceptional natural beauty, the restaurant reveals itself as visitors traverse a bamboo grove embracing the structure, where an elegant and tranquil edifice stands poised.
The entrance embodies the space’s spiritual logic. An arched “stone grotto” – a cultural fragment inserted into the modern framework – channels the spiritual awakening and guidance of Tibetan heritage. Diners step into a cultural tableau that stirs wonder, bathed in Tibetan red, a hue symbolizing auspicious fortune. The blessings and aura radiating from this “grotto” resonate throughout the space.
The crystal glass chandelier evokes the essence of water and the dragon. In ancient Eastern cosmology, the dragon transcends rigid totemism, manifesting instead as the living spirit of water. Both embody the cosmic principle of fluid strength and graceful resilience. Passing through the entrance to the first-floor seating area, the city’s clamor fades behind. Here, one glimpses the crisp, dry Tibetan air, gradually interwoven with the gathering warmth of human presence.
2. The Poetic Quality and Blessings of Space Creation
The main seating area features intimate tables. To craft an immersive atmosphere, Tibetan hues are channeled through handcrafted glass, infusing the space with emotion and vitality. Glass partition screens echo Tibet’s festive palette: the ocher-red of Sakya Monastery’s walls, the gold-leaf yellow of Jokhang Temple’s roof, lapis lazuli indigo, snow-capped mountain white, and the emerald green of Basum Lake. These colors scatter like stardust across the space through the textured glass.
Within the rooms, colored glass chandeliers—symbolizing water and abundance—and auspicious fruit-shaped wall lamps stir a delightful vibrancy against the tranquil backdrop.