Last year this time I had the fortune of assisting in the construction of a detailed ceiling for a new Japanese restaurant. The style of the ceiling was inspired by traditional tea room architecture (the Sukiya style) and required months of work. Yann Giguere of Mokuchi Woodworking was the master carpenter behind the project and I assisted him in his shop as well as on site. We spent a few months in the shop preparing various components such as the cedar and bamboo rafters, and several weeks on site installing all the rafters and ceiling panels. The ridge beam and hip rafters all started out as square pieces of Western Red Cedar. Each piece was shaped largely by hand using Japanese hand planes. Unfortunately I never got shots of the place when the whole restaurant was finished but here are a few shots of the finished ceilings that Yann and I worked on. (the gaping square holes in the ceiling were for air vents which were yet to be installed by the hvac crew)
Can you share the name of the restaurant? Would love to go see it in person.
Absolutely, its called Tempura Matsui.
-Jon