"La Gioconda"
The chef – owner of the restaurant which was the winner of an episode of the show “Quattro Ristoranti” by the Italian cook Alessandro Borghese – asked for a nimble restyling, with no structural interventions on the ambience and with particular attention to lighting. We imagined an organic web made of groups of different lamps allowing the restaurant’s customers to savour not just the excellent taste of the dishes, but also their beauty. Therefore, we intentionally contaminated the hardiness of the space by creating an essential, continuous line representing the food-mind relationship. To this end, we introduced atypical, minimalist iron wainscotings lit by LEDs all along the perimeter of the restaurant, which walls are made of plaster and bricks. In the same way, we framed the glass wine cellar that opens up in a niche along the walls, the latter designed to host art displays (hence the name of the restaurant). We combined the existing tables with comfy velvet chairs, as well as designing bookshelves made out of boxes of prestigious wines. With the view of completing the dialogue between food and culture – which also express the taste of the client – the front wall is dedicated to music, while the internal walls are decorated with photographic representations of the floral details of the Ducal Palace.