Use your illusion: An artist brings black-and-white creativity to decorate an artsy café

Rhythm Rathi · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 05, 2025 1:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

A Moncton-area creator has collaborated with a section business to making a café space look similar a walk-in colouring book.

Customers and their nutrient whitethorn beryllium the lone colours successful the virtually two-dimensional Tambayan Café, which opens aboriginal this period successful Riverview. 

When a visitant encounters the furnishings successful this three-dimensional space, it appears to beryllium a 2D drafting connected paper. Looks, though, tin beryllium deceiving: the extent successful the two-dimensional partition drawings gives an illusion of 3D. 

Ji Hyang Ryu said it took her astir 2 weeks — and 2 litres of achromatic overgarment — to crook the achromatic walls into an artistic illusion.

She said it was her archetypal clip moving connected specified a concept, arsenic good connected an country this large.

"I really enactment [my] camera successful beforehand of the wall, truthful I was looking done camera ... I had to support reasoning astir what [the spectator will] see."

Ryu said it took her a week to decorativeness the integer designs aft she saw the space.

The process was a back-and-forth speech betwixt Ryu and owner Mary Anne Catipon, who presented immoderate ideas arsenic Ryu utilized her creativity to physique upon them. 

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The drawings were inspired by places like the Mediterranean land of Santorini, a presumption of Dubai, and the Eiffel Tower successful Paris.

Ryu said she archetypal sketched connected the walls utilizing charcoal and aboriginal painted connected the lines utilizing a brush. 

"Making bully consecutive [lines] was the hardest due to the fact that you person to measurement from the extremity to the end," said Ryu, who usually draws a freehanded approach. 

She placed a pin connected some ends of the enactment and ran a drawstring betwixt them to usage it arsenic a stencil to gully connected the ample walls.

She said the walls person hidden mistakes nether the achromatic paint, but she besides tried to overgarment a feline wherever she could acceptable them passim the café.

"If you support searching, you volition find cats," said Ryu. "Lots of cats."

There is besides a mouse: Jerry, from the cartoon duo Tom & Jerry, is determination successful a determination that truthful acold has been kept a secret. There is besides a bookshelf, with the names of existent books, arsenic good arsenic Ryu's signature successful respective spots. 

Catipon said her customers tin research the elements during a contention the café plans to conduct. 

She said the café's conception was besides inspired from places she visited successful Japan and South Korea. The café will connection immoderate unsocial snacks, java products and much than 30 flavours of bubble tea, said Catipon.

She said the task besides allowed her household to get a spot artistic. She, her hubby and the café manager painted each the furnishings and lamps successful a mode that gives them a two-dimensional illusion.

Catipon said she discovered her entrepreneurial thought portion moving successful the nutrient manufacture successful her erstwhile location successful the Philippines. 

"That's wherever I spot my passion," she said, "and I would accidental making my kids' future."