Totalook: interview with the designer
Innovation and identity for an exclusive restyling: interview with the designer
To renew a famous restaurant&bar sector venue like Salotto Regina in Sassuolo without affecting its well-known iconic identity. This is the challenging feat pulled off by Studio Tecnico Micheloni, and we met them to find out more about the project.
Tell us about the Salotto Regina restyling project: what was the client asking for?
The Salotto Regina restyling was designed around the owner’s intention to renew the locale without detracting from its distinctive mood. The request was to create a more refined look while retaining the fresh, young image that had always characterised the venue.
What technical specifications did you have to comply with in your design work?
One of the first features from which the development and design of the new locale began was the floor: subject to very heavy foot traffic, it had to have the specific technical characteristics needed to withstand this, and to be slip-resistant, while still being very convenient to clean and sanitise.
The floor also had to have a versatile look but with a strong personality, as it had to fit in with the specific demands of the various rooms into which the venue was divided. So we chose a single type of material, wood-look, to create an attractive link between the various rooms while simultaneously highlighting their different intended uses.
Which characteristics of the Emilgroup products met your needs?
To meet the technical demands of the restyling project, we decided to use the Sleekwood by Emilceramica porcelain stoneware collection for the floors of the entire venue. The distinctive 11x54 cm Chevron style enabled us to create the perfect linking feature between the various rooms of the locale, and it also teamed up perfectly with the furnishings and provided the outstanding technical performances necessary for a very busy location like the Salotto Regina. The natural Nut colour renewed the venue’s look with a touch of tasteful, refined elegance.
How did you manage to combine a welcoming mood with sophistication in the various areas of the venue?
We used a well-chosen mix of colour shades, furnishings and finishes to emphasise the characters of the different rooms and renew their style. The fresh, dynamic entrance area has light coloured finishes and contrasting effects, with large brass chandeliers; the central area, where people spend more time socialising, has a jungle pattern in gold on a dark background on the walls, creating a bright yet cosy mood; the main room, with its interplays of lines, is designed around attractive geometric forms. Last but not least, the toilet area was created by combining the wood-look of the floor with an unusual marble-look finish: the “battuto di listelli” from the Tele di Marmo Reloaded collection, in Fossil Brown Malevic colour. The timeless elegance of marble is brought up to date by the playful, uneven way the strips are combined.
So the Salotto Regina’s restyling has been a success...
Absolutely, the Salotto Regina now has a contemporary, metropolitan look and a more grown-up, convivial nature, while retaining all the personality its customers like so much. In the restaurant sector in particular, change is often unavoidable: it responds to styles and updates in technologies and materials that enable people with the courage to put themselves on the line to keep constantly up to date.
07 December 2020
Magazine
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