Awabi was never just an interiors project. The brief involved reworking the former Diamond Chinese restaurant on Halkett Place, a Grade 3 listed building with a history of Asian dining stretching back to the 1970s, while converting the upper floors into six one-bedroom homes.

The restaurant was conceived as a neighbourhood hangout, somewhere equally suited to a quick dinner or a long evening at the bar. A—NY developed the interior around the meeting of East and West, drawing on the client’s Jersey and Hong Kong background through a deliberately restrained palette of bamboo, red and green, alongside plywood joinery detailed to express its construction.

The narrow footprint shaped much of the plan, with a long banquette maximising covers and a bar positioned towards the street behind new full-height timber bi-fold doors. Since opening in 2021, Awabi has become an established part of St Helier’s food scene, earning a place in the Michelin Guide, while the interior was commended at the 2022 Jersey Design Awards.