Brasserie Beck Finds A Place for Lace

It's not just the mussels, frites and beer creating buzz around Brasserie Beck, the Belgian restaurant that opened on K Street downtown in May. It's the curtains, too.

The ethereal white sheer panels are a modern interpretation of the traditional Belgian lace that chef and owner Robert Wiedmaier wanted at Brasserie Beck, said Jennifer Motruk Loy, director of marketing at Core architecture + design, which designed the restaurant. Not only do the sheers evoke the chef's Belgian heritage, they also add a touch of softness to the restaurant's otherwise masculine decor of dark woods, steel and glass, cobalt-colored tiles and leather seating.

The 100 percent polyester fabric is called Pressed Flowers (color: negative) by Tord Boontje for Kvadrat and can be ordered locally though Apartment Zero downtown (202-628-4067, http://www.apartmentzero.com) at $70 per yard.

The restaurant's look is "a good mix of the masculine and the feminine," Wiedmaier said, "like a good pinot noir."

Terri Sapienza