The clients, a family of Majorcan hoteliers, approach EL EQUIPO CREATIVO, with the idea of renovating their restaurant located in the Historic Center of Palma, Forn de Sant Joan Restaurant. Since the beginning, what most caught our attention was the historical and cultural value of the space. The restaurant was a former bakery, “Forn” in Catalan, that still preserves the terracotta structure of its old oven.
The aim was to create a cosy atmosphere that could embody the tradition of this island, the values of the restaurant such as homemade cuisine, and the attention to details and natural products. One of the typical elements of the old bakeries was the “breadbasket”. In this context, the art of wicker and hand-made basketry, a craft common to all Mediterranean villages.
We also wanted to feature the idea of the “oven" and of "fire", through the use of elements, such as original terracotta roof tiles to form the bars and the red chairs.
In the main dining room, the designers wanted to highlight the art of the basketry. Therefore, we generated a new “woven” skin, as a reference to old wicker baskets, which became the undisputed protagonist of the project. This new envelope wraps guests in a metaphorical breadbasket, creating a cosy atmosphere and adding vitality and personality to this space. On a technical level, it consists of overlapped wooden strips that create a lattice. The contrast is given by employing intense turquoise chairs which recall the Mediterranean Sea.