Sisal walls, restaurant in Chicago

Chicago's restaurant build-out code requires ASTM E84 Class A fire certification for wall treatments in dining occupancies. SI-106 ships with a non-woven fire-retardant backing that satisfies this requirement without a field-applied treatment. The general contractor requested documentation early in the permit process, and we supplied the full test report within forty-eight hours.

The herringbone pattern in SI-106 creates a directional texture that reads differently from the bar and from the dining floor — from the bar it appears geometric and structured; from the dining side the V-pattern softens into a woven ground. The designer exploited this dual reading deliberately, specifying the same material across both zones to create visual continuity while allowing each space its own character.

Acoustic performance was an unexpected benefit the client noted post-opening. The 180 m² of sisal on three walls brought the ambient noise level in the dining room down noticeably compared to the previous painted plaster surface. Sisal is not an acoustic panel, but its mass and surface texture absorb mid-frequency sound in a way that most hard-surface finishes do not.

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