“We want people to know they’re coming into a Rasa and have that familiarity and comfort and trust. “We try to give each location its own character,” Rahman says. ![]() Each restaurant also serves beers from local breweries and foods from local producers. The door is pink at the second restaurant, for example, and green at the third. Some elements appear in all Rasa restaurants, such as swings in the windows, the doors, the boxes, but each one also reflects the neighborhood it’s in. ![]() “It’s very subtle and that’s the idea: To have these relational pieces and it’s not in your face,” says Rahman. There’s a secondary element to the boxes that link back to Rahman and Vinod’s Indian roots: Their design represents the top of a mandala. “As the times change, so do we,” Rahman explains. Every so often they’ll change up what’s in the boxes. It allows us to showcase our cultural history.”īut the boxes also feature items that highlight the neighborhood they’re in and their beliefs such as a map, a Michael Pollan book, paintings by local artists, and bobble heads of the Nationals in the Navy Yard store. “We highlight a number of minorities and southern Indian authors. There are trinkets and books, instruments and cooking vessels. Different items are placed deliberately in the boxes “to really showcase and highlight our backgrounds both locally and from India,” Rahman says. The owners of Rasa feature several angled boxes on one wall of each of their restaurants, which look as if they’ve been jumbled. And, for those who want to learn more, a small sign underneath each picture gives details, though this is easily missed by patrons who are not interested. To subtly reflect that, the owners have interwoven some subtle signs into their brand: Their logo is broken up into nine pieces inside there are nine individual paintings, each one depicting one of the rasas (in the third location it’s one painting with nine sections).Ĭasual visitors to Rasa would just think these are nice pictures, Rahman says, but to people who know Indian culture, they take on a deeper meaning. ![]() It also reflects the nine rasas, or the nine essential emotions, in Indian aesthetics. Rasa is an easy name for Americans to say, though the name was very carefully chosen because “rasa” means “taste” in Hindi, in having a taste of something, literally and figuratively. Inside, the same colors are used in strings that run across the air high above customers’ heads as decor. The name really stands out on the exterior of Rasa because it’s bright and the rest of the exterior is black. “We felt India’s such a vibrant, colorful place, that it was important to bring that energy into our brand,” Rahman says. ![]() Rasa, Washington, D.C.Rahman and Vinod started by creating their logo, which includes five colors. Communicate with color.Ĭolor is a simple way to brand a restaurant, and it’s something that’s neither offensive nor too much to people unacquainted with India. This was an important piece, he says, “because it felt like the opening to our store but also our culture.” 2. Rahman and Vinod wanted to make a grand gesture before customers even walked in through the front door, so they had a door custom-made in Rajasthan “to create this grandiose and palatial feel that sparked some curiosity from people walking by,” Rahman says. Rahman talks to rd+d about how they designed a restaurant with an American audience in mind, while still being true to the concept. The restaurants feel welcoming and not too far-flung from their East Coast location to be too foreign to guests not familiar with India. It’s an explosion of color, natural materials and decor elements that reflect the concept’s Indian heritage. In 2017 Sahil Rahman and his business partner Rahul Vinod opened the first location of Rasa, an Indian fast-casual restaurant, in Washington, D.C., which has now grown to three units.
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