Interior Design Story
What I love about the hospitality interior design story for this project is how deeply personally it is. My client was a Mexican couple who weaved their own individual cultural heritage and names into the colour scheme and the branding. Which formed the foudation of this Melbourne hospitality design project for Maiz Y Cacao.
They wanted to bring a unique Mexican cultural perspecitve to Melbourne. From Mexican cooking traditions, authentic aromas and colours. Cooking recipes from generations past. Rustic cooking, for example, cooking underground. The indigenous gods of maiz and cacao are their inspiration. Corn as a basis of Mexican cuisine. Cacao as a traditional currency.
The aesthetic goal was to be pemium casual, due to premium quality ingredients and food but in a relaxed, casual, welcoming vibe. I also had to consider a seamless and consistent transition in feel from the attached Adina hotel apartment foyer building with a shared entrance.
For the design vision the inspiration was a fusion of desert and tropical. As well as folk cultural motifs. In space we see this with the lush green feature wall which is adorned with terracotta planter pots filled with a combination of foliage.
On the pillars we see traditional Mexican patterned ceramic tile for variation and distinction in zoning we used a different pattern in the bathroom hallway. The space was a European bistro style restaurant with quality furniture. So my focus was on the walls as such I wanted to add colour and cultural motif pattern on the wall and pillar in the bar zone.
Commisioned artwork for hospitality interior design
The feature wall was a commissioned piece by Chuck Mayfield and include images of corn, maiz and Aztec symbolism. The base colour is inspired by colour of corn. In Mexican cuisine corn comes in range of colours from blue to purple. To reference the gods local artisit Diego Villalta painted a diptych for the space based in the colour purple.
These two commisioned artistic pieces add depth, personalisation and aim to tell the clients unique story and extend the design vision.
Drawings by Interiorscape
Photography by Lisbeth Grosmann