At Melange Bistro and Wine Bar

At Melange Bistro and Wine Bar, a new restaurant on Main Street in Ann Arbor, co-owner John Janviriya said customers are ordering far more wine than expected, and thinks it's because of the 25-foot-long glass wine cellar that separates the dining room from the bar.

The wine cellar displays more than 2,000 bottles and is impossible to miss from almost any seat in the main dining room, but it wasn't designed to boost sales.

"It was meant to be a visual partition from the bar,'' Janviriya said.

While that may be an accident, Janviriya's distinctive Asian-influenced contemporary restaurant designs are capturing widespread attention. His most notable projects are: Mosaic in Greektown, Crave Lounge in Dearborn and Reserve Chicago, a nightclub in Chicago.

Ron Rea, partner of Ron and Roman Architects L.L.C. in Birmingham, is especially impressed with Mosaic.

"I think it's terrific, it's very professional, very well thought out, and I think it hits the mark for everything it sells,'' said Rea, who has designed restaurants for Kruse & Muer, Matt Prentice Restaurant Group and many others.

Melange, which has a cozy, warm feeling created by striped carpeting, zebra wood and lots of bamboo, opened in November.

Based on its first three months, Janviriya said, Melange is poised to achieve annual sales of $4 million to $5 million. Locally, that puts Melange in the big leagues.

Janviriya, 32, attended the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, where he studied art direction. He left in 1995 to open a Northville restaurant called Sizzling Sticks and shortly after that helped redesign the exterior of Sweet Lorraine's in Southfield.

Although he is not an architect, Janviriya markets himself as an interior designer and builder.

Janviriya is the owner of Northville-based Janviriya Design & Build Inc. and said that in 2006 he completed five main projects with a total value of about $10 million.

He is also part owner of Melange, Crave and Reserve, which have total 2007 projected sales of about $12 million.

At Melange, bamboo stalks line the stairwell that leads from the entrance into the basement level restaurant. Inside, Janviriya used Chinese bamboo to create a variety of partitions. Knee-high cushioned chairs fill a casual lounge near the bar.

"Pretty much, I bought a forest for this place,'' Janviriya said.

Melange is owned by Janviriya; Gerry Spears, president of Amvest Property Management Inc. in Ann Arbor; and two silent partners.

Janviriya said about $1 million was spent to renovate the building. Previously known as Bird of Paradise, Melange is underneath The Ark, a music hall.

Some of Janviriya's comfort with combining Asian design with other styles comes from his background. His mother is from Thailand, and his father is Irish.

At Mosaic, Janviriya designed a restaurant to match Mediterranean fusion cuisine.

Mosaic opened at 401 Monroe St. in mid-2005. Owned by sisters Athina, Maria and Stella Papas, the restaurant combines Mediterranean cuisine with Asian, French and South American dishes.

Its signature element is a copper and glass sculpture that hangs from the ceiling. For that sculpture, Janviriya turned to another rising force in Detroit's restaurant scene, Detroit-based Detroit Design Center (See "Center of design'' at left). The sculpture is 22 feet in diameter with 140 pieces of glass.

But it's Reserve Chicago, a nightclub/lounge with about $5 million in annual sales that has attracted the most attention.

Reserve opened in 2004 and is owned by Chicago-based Tsunami Capital L.L.C., in which Janviriya is a partner. Reserve also features sleek Asian design elements.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman in his book, I Should be Dead by Now, recounts a night at Reserve when the music was a "wall of noise'' and the place was so crowded he doubted he could make it to the stage.

Janviriya currently is working on the design for Crescendo, a restaurant in Chicago on Ontario and Wells streets to open this spring also owned by Tsunami.

He also is the designer and part-owner of Black Pearl, an oyster bar planned for Fourth and Main streets in Ann Arbor. There, Janviriya is planning a two-floor, 3,000-square-foot restaurant with about 120 seats. Construction is scheduled to begin this spring.

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Center of design

When restaurant designer John Janviriya takes on a project, he frequently turns to the Detroit Design Center for sculptures and other work.

Founded six years ago and operated by brothers Erik and Israel Nordin, Detroit-based Detroit Design Center's work is in many of metro Detroit's hippest new restaurants, nightclubs and loft condominium projects. A third brother, Chris, also co-founded the company, but now owns Dearborn-based Furnace Hot Glass Works L.L.C.

At Mosaic, the Nordins created a copper sculpture that is 22 feet in diameter and has 140 pieces of hand-blown glass.

Detroit Design's sculptures and designs can be found in restaurants and clubs across metro Detroit including: Vino Tecca, Royal Oak; Elysium Lounge, Detroit; Lush Lounge, Pontiac; and Mario's, Detroit.