Maison Lichen, Bordeaux: shooting an opening night and the wood fire that justifies it

The Lichen name is carried in Bordeaux by Damien Dessinges and Antoine Rolley. Its signature fits in one sentence: the cooking happens over wood and the carving happens in front of the guests, at the counter. The commission did not come from the restaurant but from Daisy Cocktail Crew, through Thomas Keranguéven, who sent the brief and the quote on 9 March 2026. Quote DEV-2026-002 was signed on 11 March, and the house logo came through on 2 April.

An opening night cannot be replayed. It happens once, in the evening, in a full room, and it has to yield both the reportage of the moment and the kitchen images that will serve for the following year. On top of that came a difficult room: bare plaster, dark timber, a single window, and an open hearth whose colour temperature has nothing in common with the pendants above it.

The kitchen frames were made before the guests arrived, at the hour when the window still crosses the room; that is what gives the raking light on the long table and the isolated shaft on the glass. The fire was treated as a light source in its own right, accepting its cast rather than correcting it. The carving at the counter was photographed at the pace of the service, with nothing asked twice, because that gesture is what defines the house. In the evening the reportage resumed on bounced flash, on the guests and on the sign.

A single selection delivered on 3 April 2026 by share link, covering the room, the hearth, the plates and the opening night. Final invoice on 12 April.

The images are made for the communication of the venue and of the commissioning party. Releases are on file for everyone appearing in frame.

The images carried the opening communication at a point when the venue had no photographs of itself at all. The reportage remains the most complete record of that night. The method is set out on the food photography pillar.