71
THE
DESIGNERS
CODOR DESIGN
SEATTLETAMARA CODOR &
N STERLING VOSS
AME
COMPANYTAMARA CODOR is a classically
trained painter who went to
school for set design. Sterling
Voss is a woodworker turned
furniture maker. Together, they
compose Seattle’s most sought-
after restaurant design team,
helping to shape the personalities
of some of the city’s most excit-
ing places to eat. Most recently,
they’ve collaborated with
2016 F&W Best New Chef alum
Edouardo Jordan, whom they
met while working on aspects
of 2011 Best New Chef Matt
Dillon’s Bar Sajor, where Jordan
was chef de cuisine at the time.
“I told Edouardo, ‘You’re going to
own your own place someday,
and I want to build it when you
get there,’” Voss says. Jordan
must have remembered, because
he called up the Codor Design
team to build his first restaurant,
Salare—a collaboration that
continued with Jordan’s JuneBaby
in 2018 and with the recently
opened Lucinda Grain Bar.
Every Codor Design
project has an element of the
unexpected—what Codor calls
their “clean-with-bursts-of-
craziness” aesthetic. Codor looks
at each project as a composi-
tion, while Voss makes sure that
every piece, however beautiful,
is also functional. The combined
effect yields distinct spaces that
surround diners in beauty. As Voss
puts it: “The goal is to have every
single thing, from the artwork on
the walls to the lighting fixtures,
be a piece of art.” —NINA FRIENDCODOR’S GREATEST HITS
Codor Design worked with F&W Best New Chef Edouardo Jordan on his Seattle establishments.SEE IT
- JUNEBABY Codor used Photoshop to create
a towering image of ancient trees dripping with
Spanish moss.“Edouardo wanted it to really feel
Deep South,” says Codor. The evocative image
brings texture to the restaurant and reinforces
Jordan’s exploration of the roots of Southern
cuisine in the cooking of enslaved peoples.
2. LUCINDA GRAIN BAR “It’s such a small
space; he wanted it to be really intimate and
feel cozy,” says Codor. The restaurant is named
for Jordan’s great-grandmother Lucinda. No
photos exist of her, Voss says, “so we asked
him to be on the lookout for pieces that
evoked who she was and the era she lived in.”
3. SALARE “That’s our Salare chandelier,”
says Voss. “It was a custom piece for
Edouardo. It was made to match the table
underneath, which was made by a friend who’s
a woodworker. In the back there’s a verre
églomisé, or back-painted mirror, that was
hand-painted by Tamara.”
1
23
PH
OT
OG
RA
PH
Y:^
DO
RO
TH
ÉE
BR
AN
D