Underwater diving with Italian ceramics
For the 41st edition of Cersaie, the international trade fair for ceramics and bathroom furnishings, which takes place in Bologna from September 23 to 27 2024, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui is featuring a series of articles focusing on the use of ceramic materials in architecture and related innovations. Let's cross the Atlantic Ocean to visit the second project in this series.
In New York, architects from Olbos studio and Riccardo Zocche opted for noble materials whose reflections ripple with light variations to bring an Asian-inspired restaurant into an underwater world.
Tikka Charcoal Grill is a restaurant offering fusion cuisine with a strong Asian flavour. For the interior design, Olbos studio took inspiration from the underwater world.
The very large main space is divided into several intimate alcoves where guests are invited to isolate themselves while dining. Delimited on the floor by large marble slabs and in the space by fine metal curtains, these private rooms, when lit, appear like coral reefs emerging from the depths of the sea.
The highlight of this large main space is the bar, an eye-catching sculptural installation. The main body of the bar is clad in ceramic from Acquario Due’s Calathea collection, here in a cameo of blues, greys and greens, and arranged like the scales of a fish.
Ceramic coverings from Italian firm Acquario Due were also used to dress the three bathrooms. In one, the Calathea collection in shades of green transforms the space into a kind of seaweed forest; in another, the Calathea collection always appears in a coral color; and in the third bathroom, architects chose the Pavoncella collection in dark blue tones to represent a rough sea on the walls. The brilliance of these ceramic surfaces echoes the ceilings, which have been clad with hammered metal panels reproducing the ripple of water.
Please visit www.olbosstudio.com to discover other Olbos studio creations, and register now at www.cersaie.it to explore the aisles of Cersaie (September 23 to 27, 2024) and discover, among others, Acquario Due‘s stand (Pad. 37 Stand B72).
