Finefood Kärlek och Mat — Stockholm, Sweden

When it comes to design, Sweden and, indeed, its Nordic cousins, have long traded on their penchant for tasteful restraint. Still, Stockholm’s newly opened Finefood Kärlek och Mat deserves special applause. Located in the city’s up-and-coming Hammarby Sjostad district, the all-day diner and bar is a perfectly proportioned cocoon of soft greens, turquoise and peach, lacquered blond wood, marbled tops and disciplined angles. Inspired by the soft chromatic pastels of a series of images of Death Valley by the LA-based photographer Jordan Sullivan, the locally based designers, Note Design Studio, transmuted the grey hardness of rocks and mountains into customized herringbone floor tiles: a perfect setting for the menu of gourmet salads, pastries and Swedish classics.