A restaurant without an identity is just a place to eat. Kartel, on the Overtoom in Amsterdam, had been exactly that — a good spot, a loyal crowd, but nothing that stuck. No story, no visual language, no clear sense of what it stood for beyond the evening itself. When the owner decided it was time for a new direction, the starting point wasn't a brief. It was a conversation.

What followed was a process of listening more than presenting. The owner knew the feeling they were after — warmth, confidence, a certain effortless quality — but hadn't yet found the words for it. Through a series of conversations, a direction emerged: a restaurant that takes food seriously without taking itself too seriously. World-class quality, served in a place that feels unmistakably Amsterdam. That tension between ambition and ease became the foundation for everything that followed. The tagline — Worldly Cuisine, Local Moods — didn't come from a strategy document. It came from understanding what the owner actually meant, beneath what they initially said.