Dynamic canopy complements restaurant logo

Restaurateur and awning maker sit down together: voilà!

There’s something about Capi’s Restaurant logo that inspires excitement and energy. Bright, dynamic, full of swirls and squiggles, the logo now has an equally dynamic (and squiggly) canopy to complement the signature restaurant in Little Rock, Ark., and provide customers shelter from sun and rain. This undulating black fabric canopy delightfully meets—and exceeds—the restaurant’s need for coverage of the exterior dining area and the need to stand out against the mundane backdrop of the Pleasant Ridge Town Center where it resides.

Designed by Jim Wilson, president of Maple Leaf Canvas, Sherwood, Ark., in collaboration with the owner, the canopy was directly inspired by the logo. The design’s “bright colors and fun shapes begged for something a bit different from the norm,” says Wilson. “The owners loved the logo and wanted something kind of wild” for the freestanding canopy.

The wavy shape came about casually enough: Wilson sat down with the restaurant owners and “began to talk and sketch until we had something which excited them.” At one point the design “got so complicated that we really had to simplify the structure” in the end, says Wilson.

Because the center management would not allow the structure to attach to the building, Wilson was able to compromise and convince the management that a single tie back at the upper cord of the canopy at center would suffice to stabilize the structure.