Jean Georges‘s latest venture The Fulton was designed by top New York design duo Yabu Pushelberg to evoke the history of the city’s seaport. Located at Pier 17, the new restaurant is adorned in hand-painted murals by En Viu that illustrate a whimsical undersea journey. This theme is carried through a refined use of plush sea-foam green banquettes and U-shaped quartz countertops. The overall scheme, evident throughout the two-story restaurant, veers in the opposite direction of what could easily become kitsch, especially when dealing with nautical treatments. Rather, the design of The Fulton demonstrates a mastery of elegant and restrained interpretation. Dock-floor patterns, wood paneling, and asymmetrical lighting play on the buoyancy of the waterline outside as indoor and outdoor seating provide unobstructed views of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The unifying South of Cape Horn mural scheme by Studio En Viu (Diego Castaño and Chandler Noah) draws inspiration from Jules Verne’s iconic novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and depicts an amalgamation of landscape and seascapes, populated by personified creatures and plant life. Running throughout the venue’s main floor, private dining rooms, and ground level Garde Manger, the illustration also features shipwreck relics and interjected portraits of the famed author. Overall, the mural tells th3 a story of explorers, who in search of an alleged sea monster embarks on an otherworldly journey. The color palette is evocative of Roman frescos and a sense of nostalgia.

For centuries the ocean has bred monsters, and like outer space has been a setting for science fiction. Unlike outer space, however, the oceans are part of our own planet. Science knows more about outer space than the ocean deep; in this absence of knowledge, the deep is a site where the imagination has full reign.