FOCUS 063
Christophe Penasse and Ana Milena Hernández, co-founders of design studio Masquespacio, explain why challenging established design expectations is a key part of creating innovative spaces…
What is your own background and what was the path that led you to working within hospitality architecture and design?
Ana is an interior designer and Christophe is a marketeer. At the outset, we started focusing on residential projects, but quickly realised that hospitality could offer us the opportunity to be more artistic and creative. At the same time, we have a driven passion for travelling and eating, and we found that we organically gravitated towards hospitality design.
What defines your studio’s approach to projects in this sector?
For us, each brand is completely different and so we develop a tailor-made concept for each of the projects we work on. Tere is generally no project for us that is similar to a past one – our obsession is to innovate every time,
even if the business model aims to attract masses. At the same time, we seek to challenge the established standards. We try to question the status quo, so, for example, we ask why a burger restaurant needs to be industrial or 1980s American-styled, or why a coffee shop needs to be full of plants and wood. Our projects Bun Burgers in Milan, Italy, and Mo in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, demonstrated different ways of approaching these spaces.
What does the future hold for hospitality design in the short and long term?
We have to confess that we are a bit worried about the thematisation of spaces and the desperation to make them Instagrammable. It converts spaces purely [to] a marketing tool and, although it can create a unique experience in the short term, it loses the focus on long-lasting models where the experience seeks to match product and experience quality at the same level.
Tis could affect the long-time durability of it and remove the focus from product plus experience, to experience only. On the other hand, we are step-by-step getting away from the luxury trend to a new luxury based on sustainable materials and a more minimalistic design approach where ‘less is more’ is getting stronger.
What recent project presented a particularly interesting or unusual design challenge?
One of our latest projects in Milan for restaurant Ichi Station started from an already existing brand with three spaces offering creative and high-quality takeaway sushi. Te client hired us with the aim to extend his brand identity to a dining space, instead of the purely takeaway focus.
Te very strong identity was based on the concept of travelling where Ichi Station was the destination to stop to have your sushi. Te client also wanted some sort of connection with ‘Japan in space’. We proposed to convert the Ichi Station restaurants into stations of the future, which would relate to a very innovative sushi food menu. We integrated big, round windows inside the space
and seating that could relate to Japan, although with the emphasis on a futuristic approach. This way we were able to avoid the saturated and old-fashioned Japanese references, like wood and the street kanji signs that you see in Japanese restaurants all around the world. Te new scheme and aesthetic also gave the business the opportunity to change its menu without having the restriction of relating it solely to Japan. Trough lighting, we were also able to transform the space for both day and night vibes.
masquespacio.com
ALL IMAGES:
WWW.LUISBELTRAN.EU
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133
