Designer and cartoonist who revolutionised the look of Italian restaurants in Britain during the 1960s
Enzo Apicella, who has died aged 96, was the padrone– the godfather – of London’s Italian restaurant culture. His distinction was not as a maestro in the kitchen. Nor was he specially good at business. Instead, Apicella had a very particular, wholly individual and completely persuasive vision of what an Italian restaurant should be.
Out went murals of the erupting Vesuvius, tourist board posters of Lake Como and trellis with plastic vines. In came cool tiles, white paint, downlighters, Magistretti chairs and proper art. Thanks to Apicella, the Pizza Express in Fulham had murals by Eduardo Paolozzi, forming in many customers’ minds an unbreakable connection between pop art and pizza margherita.
Continue reading...