As a popular skiing destination, Colorado has no shortage of cozy log cabins. While developing the design of Sway, a modern Thai restaurant in Aspen, Michael Hsu Office of Architecture took inspiration from a similar — yet also wholly distinct — type of wooden abode: Thailand’s traditional teakwood homes. The end result is a fusion design that feels completely at home in its Rocky Mountain setting, yet still manages to pay thoughtful tribute to the country that its dishes originated in.

By playing up the natural beauty of wood, the restaurant’s design team (which also included Charles Cunniffe Architects as the project’s Architect of Record) establishes a warm, intimate refuge perfect for escaping sub-zero temperatures. Adding to the dining room’s rustic sense of texture, Sway’s wood paneling is treated with a wire-brushed finish that emphasizes its rich grain patterns. Building on this golden backdrop, the rest of the project’s palette includes woven cane cabinetry and rich, honey-hued banquette upholstery.

It is through the restaurant’s collection of statement lighting that Hsu’s cross-cultural design concept really comes to life. The brass pendants are modeled after long-tail boats, while custom shades fabricated by L.A.’s Laspec Lighting showcase Thai mulberry paper, a special type of lightweight sheet produced from mulberry tree bark. Floating high above the dining tables, these pendants recall the paper lanterns of Thailand’s Loy Krathong festival. Meanwhile, large wall lamps by Brooklyn design studio Pelle evoke the oversized fronds of tropical greenery.

Moving to the bar area, a Calacatta Viola White marble countertop rests above rows of extra-long burgundy tiles with a glazed sheen. As Hsu explains in his firm’s project text about Sway, “It’s a carefully designed space, but not too precious. Hand-crafted elements are special and add to the experience, though they are developed with everyday, relatable materials.” Playful finishing touches include a scalloped border running along the top edge of the banquette and a fringed textile art that evokes a contour map of a mountain range. (A Morse wall hanging by Obakki adorns another corner.)

Hsu and his firm previously worked on Sway’s first location in Austin, Texas, where the architecture studio is based. To ensure that the restaurant finds similar success in Aspen, Hsu has cleverly imagined a space that feels both comfortingly familiar and boldly transportive. Thanks to Sway’s lodge-like ambiance, ski bums used to hitting up chalets might just discover that a spicy green curry is the perfect way to finish off a day on the slopes.