Buyer, seller agreed to conditions

When Gabrielle, designer, owner and operator of Gabrielle EastWest Interiors, goes about converting a former bar into a state-of-the-art vegan restaurant, it involves much more than just replacing furnishings, wall and floor coverings.

The conversion of space in the dragon building on Kukui Street in Kapa‘a into the Blossoming Lotus restaurant nearly proved too much even for someone with her experience, she said.

“I realized from the beginning that it was going to take a lot more than a little paint, a new kitchen, and new furniture to accomplish the mission. It took nine months of conscious attention and intention throughout every step of the design and building process,” she said.

Commissioned by the owners to transform the former bar into a healing environment that would nourish the spirit, mind and body, Gabrielle (she goes only by her first name), a feng shui practitioner, knew she had a bit of work in front of her to switch the former dark space into one with positive healing energy, she said.

“At times it seemed the work would never end, and then one day I left about four in the afternoon, and the space was still a mess full of building materials. And when I returned at seven, it was full of people eating from beautifully presented plates of food,” she said.

“I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The stage was set, and with virtually no rehearsal a team of master chefs took over, and, voila, an exciting Kaua‘i restaurant was born,” she recalls.

“The lotus had blossomed.” Gabrielle used a computerized image of the 6.5-square-foot painting now featured on the restaurant’s center wall as her inspiration for all the colors, she said.

Upstairs, The Lotus Room, available for private parties, is a favored section of the restaurant, painted in light pink with a rose splash wall and deeppurple booth cushions punctuated by hot pinks, oranges and purple chair cushions on bamboo chairs set against a bamboo floor.

The combination suggests a more intimate and romantic setting as opposed to the sociable open space with stage, high ceiling, and lotus-etched windows downstairs, she said.

Although the ambiance is that of Hawai‘i, you get the feeling you’re in a big-city restaurant, she added.

“The bamboo materials used throughout the restaurant were selected because bamboo is natural, island-friendly and very affordable,” Gabrielle explained.

“I attempted to keep all the colors and materials as uplifting and natural as possible.” Gabrielle, who does work on O‘ahu, Maui, the Big Island and Kaua‘i, has her office in Kapa‘a’s Kauai Design Center, on Lehua Street right around the corner from Blossoming Lotus. For more information, please call 652-1915.