The decorative excesses are over
“Simplicity is actually very complicated.”
These are the words of Sir Jonathan Ive, executive vice president of design at Apple and the great white hope in Cupertino so that the manzanita boat continues placidly sailing the firewood of our credit cards. To situate ourselves, this guy is the designer behind the iMac, the iPhone, the iPad. or the white headphones present in every fucking Starbucks on the planet . For designers from around the world, Ive is “their” Ferran Adrià. The true genius. Awarded Royal Designer for Industry by The Royal Society of Arts and spiritual heir to Dieter Rams, his influence goes beyond screens and wires . Far beyond.
“When an object is well designed, you connect with it . You have to eliminate everything superfluous, everything that is not important. Its less is more applied to technology has changed the way we relate to the objects that surround us every day. It has changed everything. And somehow I can't help but see a connection (connections, always connections), a thread that connects his immeasurable influence with everything that has happened to design in restoration during the last ten years.
A SQUARE PLATE?
Before the Noma, the crisis, the second brands of great chefs, the lists without waiting and the twelve-buck menus, the sector wasted enthusiasm, pasta and a "bigger than life" that led us to create lavish 'gastronomic spaces' where luxury was the message : gilded, uncomfortable rococo armchairs, black (black!) walls, lamps by Starck and pomp to cascoporro.
Fortunately, all that ended, the sector ceased to interest finance and entertainment and only chefs remained. As we already pointed out here, “This new luxury substitutes pomp and gold for wood, space and nudity. This Nordic style flees from the exuberant and seeks to impress without dazzling. The connection with the person through natural materials (wood, stone, skin) and a stage that does not pretend to be your cathedral but your home” . The race for authenticity and less is more had reached the restoration and also its design. And precisely the design of restaurants is what the British reward every year Restaurant & Bar Design Awards : the 'Oscars' of restoration design.
A return to nature
It is the fifth edition of some awards that reward the best designers, architects and interior designers and that, look what a coincidence, last year they crowned a Spanish restaurant: A Cantina, in Santiago de Compostela (designed by Estudio Nómada). It is interesting to see the projects selected for the 2013 awards (they fail in September) and analyze how they reflect the trends and spaces of what bars will be like, restaurants and eating houses where we fell in love ; where we will meet new friends and forget several unforgettable girlfriends.
But before going to roll call our 25 favorites , let's go with what yes and what not in restaurant design trends.
THINGS THAT YES
- Outside tablecloths. This is already more than a trend. Nudity has come to the table and greats like Quique Dacosta, Nerua, Coque, Ricard Camarena, Dos Palillos, Koy Sunkha, 41º or Tickets dress tables without thread.
- Organic materials. Wood (a lot of wood!) and noble materials such as concrete and bare microcement. Blackboards where humanity takes over from plasma screens in our little hipster hearts. Blackboards where the menu and the wines are accompanied with flowers, chalk and cute phrases.
- At home better. It seems that the new restaurants go very hard on that (wonderful) declaration of intentions by the master Rafael Azcona "Like away from home anywhere". The bars want to be your home and that translates into plants, dishes from your grandmother and open kitchens. All in family.
- Music. But music, not noise. Gone are the days of DJs (well), chill and chunda-chunda. The multicultubars that come give way to jazz records, vinyl on the walls and after-dinner to the rhythm of Jamie Cullum.
THINGS NOT
- Balinese bed. The Ibizan decoration, the white beds, the polyester destroy, the scoundrel lounge and the ice buckets with regular champagne (ahem) have, thank God, their days numbered. Gutti No. Quique Gonzalez yes.
- Low tables. At some point some interior decorator genius touched by the magic wand imposed that twisted and uncomfortable fashion of low tables and armchairs. Things from India, the Taj Mahal, oriental inspiration or whatever. The horror.
- Rare cups, rare dishes. Black champagne glasses (what color will the wine be?), square plates, or the most absurd, stupid and terrifying of man-made inventions: the coffee cup without a handle.
-Audrey Hepburn. You're so cute, Audrey. But enough of looking at your Warhol version print. Really.
_ GALLERY: here you can see the most beautiful restaurants in the world (according to us) _.
This Yes