Opasly Tom by Buck.Studio Offers a Creative Twist on Polish Cuisine

They each have architect parents and preferred Legos over any other toy growing up. Plus, “We’re both detail obsessed!” Pawel Buck states. It’s no surprise, then, that after meeting while studying architecture at Wroclaw University of Technology in Poland, and then cutting their teeth at different firms, he and Dominika Buck decided to launch Buck.Studio together in 2008, the same year they wed. No longer married but in a happy example of “consciously uncoupling,” they still share a surname and run their hospitality-focused interiors and branding firm together. Two years ago, Dominika Buck moved to Warsaw to grow the business, and that’s where Opasly Tom, a restaurant known for its creative twist on Polish cuisine, enters the frame.

The handblown milk-glass pendant fixtures in the main dining room are custom. Photography by Pion Studio.

The existing eatery was moving to a larger space that spanned two floors of a 1900 building rebuilt after World War II. Faced with a warren of rooms and a split-level lay-
out, Buck.Studio cohered the 2,800 square feet by installing panels of corrugated steel on nearly every wall, and then covering them in sound-dampening velvet in sage or ink blue. There’s a reason that intervention might recall the drapes in old movie theaters: Dominika Buck also art directs feature films and has a host of Polish rom-coms under her belt. “It’s taught me to see physical space through a cinematic lens in terms of light, color, and framing,” she notes.

Unpolished Spanish marble tops custom tables in Opasly Tom, a Warsaw restaurant by Buck.Studio. Photography by Pion Studio.

There’s certainly a Wes Anderson vibe to Opasly Tom’s nostalgic, chroma-saturated scheme. “We enjoy following the aesthetic trails of the past,” Pawel Buck adds. That might explain the pendant fixtures they designed throughout, their milk-glass composition a nod to the lampshades the designers remember from their parents’ and grandparents’ homes.

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Beech chairs and barstools in another dining room are production pieces. Photography by Pion Studio.

The Oasis cabaret that used to occupy the 1900 building now lends its name to a private dining room, its built-in banquette upholstered in polyester velvet. Photography by Pion Studio.

The same fabric covers the corrugated-steel wall panels in a lounge. Photography by Pion Studio.

Cotton-viscose in a vintage art nouveau print wraps the upper wall of Oasis. Photography by Pion Studio.

Burled poplar panels clad the lower portion. Photography by Pion Studio.

Ceramic tile lines the restroom. Photography by Pion Studio.

The custom host station is on casters. Photography by Pion Studio.

Product Sources: From Front: Chors: Custom Pendant Fixtures, Custom Sconces (Main Dining Room, Lounge). FAMEG: Chairs (Dining Rooms), Barstools (Dining Room). ILIV: Wall Covering (Private Dining Room, Lounge). Iker: Chairs (Private Dining Room, Lounge). Omnires: Sink Fittings (Restroom). Throughout: Fargotex Group: Wall Covering.