Maison Sagan’s Sous La Même Étoile menu for Bar Le Syndicat unites 90s hip-hop and cosmic calamities

Art direction bureau Maison Sagan, based out of Paris and Miami, have crafted the tactile, multi-material menu for Paris’ Bar Le Syndicat, celebrating the occasion of Sous La Même Étoile – a gathering at the renowned bar of equally renowned culinarians. With the menu taking its name from hip hop group IAM’s 1997 track, which literally translates to ‘under the same star,’ Founder Jean-Daniel Galisson tells us that the name is also a reference to the Michelin reward given to the best chefs and restaurants around the world. Six Michelin star winning restaurateurs feature on Sous La Même Étoile. “With all these stars, the chefs and barmen,” Galisson continues, “it appeared to us more like an explosion, leading to the supernova on the cover,” constructed of screen-printed transparent pages and metallic shapes to convey the desired flamboyant, fierce cosmic energy.

“For the transparent layer, colours had to be vivid for the silver background to work correctly,” Galisson recalls, “we turned to scientific space imagery to recompose layers of colours,” the hues of which are explored through not only the menu’s printing but it’s constructive materials too, notably including its fluorescent spiral binding. “Binding paper and transparent plastic together is best done with spirals,” he explains. The studio worked closely with revered Parisian publishers and printers CH Legrand to achieve this practical yet premium production. 

Grounding the menu’s eccentricities is the bold choice of type, opting for Dinamo’s Monument Grotesk Mono and Beatrice from Sharp Type as Sous La Même Étoile’s typographic duo. “The type was set with the hip hop reference in mind,” Galisson remarks, searching for a bold, album-like vibe, “and Beatrice and Monument were spot on to play that part.” Merging the two contrasting sans serifs to embody the association between the chefs and barmen – as conveyed through its layout. “Each spread tells the story behind the cocktail on the left-hand page,” he explains, “whilst on the right-hand side are the pictures of said cocktail,” alongside thumbnail images from a video of the cocktail’s creation. “The addition of layers to recompose an image,” Galisson concludes, “is a direct nod to layers of complexity in a cocktail recipe.”

Maison Sagan

Le Syndicat