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    Ten eateries with nostalgic retro interiors

    A decadent 1920s-style restaurant and a pastel-hued cafe informed by the playful symmetry of Wes Anderson movies are included in our latest lookbook, which collects ten eateries featuring retro design.

    The stylish details in these projects range from dark-cherry wood panelling and bulbous sconce lights to pops of bright red colour similar to that found in 1950s American diners.
    In other projects, the designers maintained the original design features found in the cafes and restaurants – such as vintage ceiling beams or reclaimed furniture – to create retro interiors that still feel modern.
    This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing self-designed homes by architects and designers, modernist open-plan living rooms and interiors with cosy conversation pits.
    Top: photo is by Derek Swalwell. Above: photo is by Mikael LundbladCafe Banacado, Sweden, by ASKA 

    Design influences from Anderson’s movies collide with Cuban aesthetics at Cafe Banacado, an all-day breakfast cafe in Stockholm by architecture studio ASKA.
    Known for his playfully retro sets, American filmmaker Anderson’s visual style typically includes bold symmetrical layouts similar to the geometric built-in sofas and custom tables reflected in a large mirror at the Stockholm eatery.
    Find out more about Cafe Banacado ›
    Photo is by Felix SpellerMaido, UK, by Child Studio
    Local design office Child Studio converted a London former post office into a sushi restaurant featuring interiors that reflect the late modernist building’s 1960s style.
    The eatery’s retro elements include dark-cherry wood panelling, a glass-block wall and a soft blue coffered ceiling that hangs above rows of Mies van der Rohe’s iconic MR10 chair, which hug petite circular tables.
    Find out more about Maido ›
    Photo is by Niveditaa GuptaElgin Cafe, India, by Renesa
    Chunky blocks of emerald-green granite sourced from Udaipur, India, take centre stage at Elgin Cafe, a restaurant in Punjab that was built on what was once dilapidated farmland.
    Architecture and interior design studio Renesa was informed by “the feel of the outdoors,” adding curved wicker chairs and various potted plants to the all-green space, which celebrates bold maximalist design.
    Find out more about Elgin Cafe ›
    Photo is by Francis AmiandAbstinence, France, by Lizée-Hugot
    Abstinence is an elegant Parisian eatery that features materials commonly found in traditional French brasseries, including low-slung lacquered seating and wooden panels adorned with sconce lights.
    The project is the first by local studio Lizée-Hugot and also has tubular steel furniture and other elements that recall 1970s interior design, such as birdseye maple and olive and tan leather.
    Find out more about Abstinence ›
    Photo by Nicole FranzenThe Harvey House, USA, by Home Studios
    Created to evoke “the golden age of train travel,” a Wisconsin former rail baggage-claim building was transformed into a retro restaurant that takes cues from the 1930s and 1940s supper club culture in the midwestern state.
    Brooklyn-based Home Studios combined a mixture of dark wooden furniture, decadent tiling and tactile upholstery with the space’s original design features, which include vintage ceiling beams and sliding doors.
    Find out more about The Harvey House ›
    Photo is by Derek SwalwellThe Budapest Cafe, Australia, by Biasol
    The Budapest Cafe in Melbourne is another eatery informed by Anderson’s films, which have a whimsical style that nods to retro design.
    Local studio Biasol designed the space as an ode to Anderson’s 2014 feature film The Grand Budapest Hotel, with soft pink interiors and quirky architectural motifs that evoke the filmmaker’s playful symmetry and nostalgic colour palette.
    Find out more about The Budapest Cafe ›
    Photo is by Mikko RyhänenJackie, Finland, by Studio Joanna Laajisto
    Named after the song Jackie by late musician Scott Walker, this Helsinki bar, which also serves food, was created after designer Joanna Laajisto was given a soundtrack of 1960s and 1970s Italian lounge music and 1970s French cosmic disco by the bar’s owner to gain an idea of his vision for Jackie.
    “The dark green walls and ceiling with long tan leather sofas take you away, maybe to a bar in Milan in the 1970s,” explained Laajisto. “A Pipistrello table lamp designed by Italian architect Gae Aulenti in 1965 reinforces the illusion.”
    Find out more about Jackie ›
    Photo by Nicholas WorleyPiraña, UK, by Sella Concept
    Retro signage and red banquette seating pay homage to the interiors of 1950s American diners at Piraña, a restaurant in London by Sella Concept.
    Bold shapes and colours persist throughout the space, including a bespoke jade terrazzo floor, a bar lined with curved timber slats and an abundance of red accents resembling the colour palette of traditional diners. Circular lamps match the round cafe tables and add a playful geometric detail.
    Find out more about Piraña ›
    Photo is by Maha Nasra EddéMimi Kakushi, UAE, by Pirajean Lees
    British firm Pirajean Lees channelled the spirit of Japan’s 1920s jazz age in this richly textured Dubai restaurant that was converted from a nightclub.
    The studio maintained a party theme at Mimi Kakushi through the placement of beaded curtains and mirrored tables that refract light, while a bespoke stained-glass window adds a touch of colourful glamour.
    Find out more about Mimi Kakushi ›
    Photo is by David DworkindCaffettiera Caffé Bar, Canada, by Ménard Dworkind
    1970s-style Rubik’s Cube mirrors and a floor tiled to look like checkerboard Vans trainers stars at Caffettiera Caffé Bar, a coffee bar in downtown Montreal.
    Canadian studio Ménard Dworkind mounted curved mirrors onto faux-wood plastic laminate panels, while framed photos of iconic 1990s supermodels line the walls, aiming to connect customers through a sense of shared nostalgia.
    Find out more about Ménard Dworkind ›
    This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing domestic gyms, modernist living rooms and kitchen extensions.

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    Transatlántico exhibition “forms a bridge” between Latin American and European design

    Brutalist furniture by Rick Owens, a shaggy pink sofa and ethereal lighting feature in Transatlántico, an exhibition of Latin American and European sculptural design presented by Galerie Philia in Mexico City.

    Transatlántico brings together furniture and ornaments by emerging Latin American designers from Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
    Top: a wall hanging by Mexican studio Caralarga. Above: Pietro Franceschini presents his Waldo sofa, among other seatingTheir pieces are presented alongside work by leading European designers such as Pietro Franceschini and Pierre De Valck, some of whom are showing in Mexico for the first time.
    “The aim was to create an authentic, specialised event around the Latin American design scene and its very distinct identity, but also include new collections by European designers,” Transatlántico co-curator Alban Roger told Dezeen.
    “We wanted to establish a dialogue between the two continents, with both their own distinctive styles but also strong inter-influences.”

    Carob wood furniture by Cristián Mohaded features in the exhibitionIn line with this theme, a shaggy pink “yeti” sofa by St Petersburg-based artist Vladimir Naumov for Missana Lab is included alongside delicate carob wood furniture by Argentinian designer Cristián Mohaded, who explores carpentry using native materials from his birth country.
    An ethereal light named Ghost Pendant was crafted by Mexican designers Héctor Esrawe and Emiliano Godoy and Los-Angeles born designer Brian Thoreen, using handblown glass, silicon tubing and LED lights.
    Vladimir Naumov offers a shaggy pink sofaOther pieces include dark-coloured brutalist furniture by Paris-based American fashion designer Rick Owens that is made from a mixture of bronze and camel skin, as well as Mexico City-based Platalea Studio’s playful Happiness Bench formed from three curvy slabs of pink and brown terrazzo.
    “We reached out to talents we believe in and who fell within our criteria of sculptural design,” explained co-curator Jorge Brown, with regard to how Galeria Philia selected the participating designers.
    “Our main criteria was the originality of their design exploration but also their creative research on various materials and sculptural techniques.”

    Mario García Torres curates design exhibition in Mexico City house

    According to Galerie Philia, sustainability was also a factor in Transátlantico’s curatorial ethos.
    This is reflected in pieces such as a series of delicately woven wall hangings by Mexican artisanal studio Caralarga, which are crafted using raw cotton yarn and discarded fabric waste.
    Ghost Pendant is a light by Héctor Esrawe and Emiliano Godoy and Brian ThoreenColombian designer Alejandra Aristizábal also presents textile wall hangings that resemble jumbo rolls of sewing thread, although hers are made from fique – a natural fibre from the Andean region that has historically been used to create ropes and hammocks.
    “Transatlántico is founded on the idea of forming a transatlantic bridge between the contrasting cultural and artistic worlds of Europe and Latin America, identifying how we establish a creative discourse across the social boundaries associated with the geography that divides us,” said Galerie Philia co-founder Ygaël Attali.
    Rick Owens presents a selection of brutalist bronze furnitureWith galleries in Geneva, New York City and Singapore, Galerie Philia is an international contemporary design and art gallery that also presents group exhibitions at temporary spaces around the world.
    Previous Galerie Philia exhibitions include a furniture show in Manhattan’s Walker Tower and an exhibition presenting emerging Italian designers’ responses to Rick Owens’ work in Milan.
    Happiness Bench is playful terrazzo seating by Platalea StudioThe photography is courtesy of Galerie Philia.
    Transátlantico is on show at House of Kirschner’s gallery space, Avenida Ejército Nacional 676, in Mexico City from 8 to 12 February 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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