ARCHIVEHow JB Restaurant Turned Artistic Plate Decoration Into a Book
The JB Restaurant Book is a 2019 design campaign created by Futura DDB for JB Restaurant in Ljubljana, Slovenia, converting Chef Janez Bratovž's signature plate decorations into illustrated book covers that also document the restaurant's selected ingredient suppliers and signature dishes.
JB Restaurant occupies a singular position in Slovenian fine dining. Founded by chef Janez Bratovž in 1992, the Ljubljana establishment has been central to the development of contemporary Slovenian cuisine, as described by the Michelin Guide. The restaurant's identity rests on Bratovž's precision with plating, his use of regional ingredients, and signature dishes including JB ravioli and modern interpretations of Slovenian culinary traditions. In February 2019, Futura DDB — the Ljubljana branch of the DDB network — channelled that culinary identity into a single, meticulously designed physical object.
The campaign's core mechanic is the conversion of the chef's decorative plate elements into original illustrated covers, with Bratovž himself credited as illustrator, making the book an extension of his creative authorship rather than a conventional promotional artefact. Inside, the volume brings together selected recipes and profiles of the ingredient suppliers whose produce shapes the restaurant's menu, framing the food industry context in Slovenia as one defined by provenance and craft. The book functions simultaneously as a brand communication tool, a narrative document of Slovenian culinary identity, and a collectible design object. Its geographic focus is explicit: Slovenia, and specifically Ljubljana, is the setting, the subject, and the intended market. The Clapboard Score for this campaign is 66 out of 100, reflecting strong creative distinctiveness offset by the inherent reach limitations of a single-asset design medium.
JB Restaurant operates at the top of a competitive fine-dining segment in Slovenia. The strategic decision to produce a physical book rather than a conventional advertising campaign reflects the nature of that competition. In Ljubljana and across Slovenia, high-end restaurants including Hiša Franko in Kobarid, Strelec at Ljubljana Castle, Monstera Bistro, and Atelje compete for the same discerning domestic and international guest, according to the Michelin Guide. Each of these establishments maintains a distinctive creative and culinary identity; generic advertising offers little differentiation at this level.
The insight driving The JB Restaurant Book is that Chef Janez Bratovž's competitive advantage is not simply his food but his artistic authorship — the visual language he applies to every plate. Futura DDB identified that this visual language, which guests experience only within the restaurant's dining room, could be externalised and made tangible. A book in the narrative genre of chef monographs and culinary heritage volumes repositions JB Restaurant within a cultural conversation that extends beyond the food industry and into design, literature, and craft. This matters in the Slovenian market, where gastro-tourism has grown as a category, with Slovenia named European Region of Gastronomy for 2021 by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism, demonstrating the country's broader investment in culinary identity as a strategic asset. The book medium also serves a practical function: it reaches potential guests, press, and trade contacts through gifting and distribution channels unavailable to conventional advertising, broadening the campaign's footprint without mass media spend.
The creative execution of The JB Restaurant Book is built on a deliberate collapse of the boundary between chef and creative contributor. Chef Janez Bratovž is credited as illustrator on the project, meaning the decorative signatures that appear on the book's covers are drawn directly from his own hand — the same hand that composes the artistic plate decoration guests encounter at the table in Ljubljana. This is not a simulation of authorship but an act of it, and it gives the object an authenticity that distinguishes it from restaurant marketing that merely references culinary craft.
Creative direction was led by Zare Kerin, who also served as art director alongside Maruša Kozelj. Design was executed by Vesna Žnidarišar, Marjan Božič, and Marko Piskur. The written dimension of the book was contributed by Noah Charney, a writer whose work spans art history and narrative non-fiction, lending the project credentials that align with its positioning as a cultural object rather than a promotional brochure. Photography was handled by Matjaž Tančič and Manca Jevšek, whose imagery documents the restaurant's dishes and ingredient sources with the precision appropriate to a fine-dining context. Film direction was shared by Robert Bohinec and Zoran Gabrijan, with film design by Miha Avsenik and production managed by Aljaž Habot and Veronika Košir Firbas for Lilt. Account management was handled by Urška Nučić. The resulting object is a collaboration between disciplines — design, illustration, photography, writing, and film — unified by the visual vocabulary of Bratovž's signature dishes and the Slovenian culinary landscape they draw from.
ARCHIVENo verified commercial performance data for The JB Restaurant Book is publicly available, and the single-asset design format of the campaign does not lend itself to the impression or conversion metrics associated with media campaigns. The campaign's impact is most legibly documented through its awards record.
The JB Restaurant Book won Silver at the New York Festivals Advertising Awards in 2019 in the Design category, specifically Brand Design: Books, as reported by the New York Festivals. It also won Bronze at AD Stars 2019 in the Design category covering Restaurants, according to AD Stars. The campaign was additionally submitted to the ADC Europe Awards 2019 in the Promotions and New Media category, as documented by ADC Europe. Together, these recognitions from three distinct international award bodies confirm that the work was evaluated seriously and rewarded by peer juries across different geographic and institutional perspectives — a meaningful signal of creative quality for a campaign produced by a single Ljubljana agency for a single Ljubljana restaurant. The Silver at New York Festivals is the strongest of these results, placing The JB Restaurant Book in the upper tier of global design work in its category for that year. For a campaign with one reported media asset in a small European market, that outcome represents genuine creative reach. The structural effectiveness of the campaign rests on its capacity to represent JB Restaurant's culinary and artistic identity to audiences — press, industry peers, and prospective guests — well beyond the reach of the restaurant's dining room in Slovenia.
The JB Restaurant Book is a 2019 design campaign created by Futura DDB for JB Restaurant in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It converts Chef Janez Bratovž's artistic plate decoration signatures into illustrated book covers, accompanied by selected recipes and profiles of the restaurant's ingredient suppliers, functioning as both a brand object and a culinary document.
Futura DDB, the Ljubljana-based branch of the DDB network, created The JB Restaurant Book. Creative direction was led by Zare Kerin, with art direction by Zare Kerin and Maruša Kozelj, writing by Noah Charney, and Chef Janez Bratovž himself credited as illustrator, as documented by Clapboard and Ads of the World.
The JB Restaurant Book won Silver at the New York Festivals Advertising Awards 2019 in the Brand Design: Books category, and Bronze at AD Stars 2019 in the Design category for Restaurants. It was also submitted to the ADC Europe Awards 2019, according to records cited across Clapboard and Ads of the World.
Janez Bratovž is the founder and chef-owner of JB Restaurant in Ljubljana, which he opened in 1992. The Michelin Guide describes him as a key figure in contemporary Slovenian cuisine. For The JB Restaurant Book, Bratovž served as illustrator, with his signature plate decoration forming the visual foundation of the campaign's design concept.
Rather than using media advertising, Futura DDB produced a physical book placing Chef Janez Bratovž's artistic authorship at the centre of the brand communication. This approach externalised the visual language of JB Restaurant's signature dishes into a collectible design object, reaching press, industry peers, and guests through channels unavailable to conventional campaigns.
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