© Luis Beltran
- Interior Designer: Masquespacio
- Location: Plaza del Ayuntamiento 10, 46002 Valencia, Spain
- Area: 125.0 m2
- Project Year: 2018
- Photographs: Luis Beltran
- Constructor: H2GO
- Decorative Lighting: Diseñado por Masquespacio, producción local
- Technical Lighting: Onok Lighting
- Design Table: Masquespacio, producción local
- Design Stools: Masquespacio, producción local
© Luis Beltran
Text description provided by the architects. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the first Japanese arrived in Brazil with the aim to work in the coffee plantations, although, the Japanese nutrition was totally different to the Brazilian for which they were obliged to adapt to the local ingredients. Seeking their own flavors, a new Nikkei Nipo-Brazilian gastronomy flourished with a strong identity that after more than one century with its unique flavors and fusions reached international fame.
© Luis Beltran
Floor Plan
© Luis Beltran
Kaikaya, is the result of this history, bringing the fusion of traditional and methodic Japan with the tropical and exotic, contemporary Brazil to the center of Valencia. A representation showed both through its kitchen as well as through its design as described afterward. Starting from an emblematic venue with vaults, metallic beams and original bricks the first conclusion for the aesthetics was to maintain the existing elements in its actual state, highlighting the beauty of its imperfections left by time.
© Luis Beltran
Above, the design needed to contain a strong splash of color, together with an eclectic style that could mix the 2 concepts of Japan + Brazil without being conventional. Thereby, in the first case, we can recognize the use of materials that remind to Japan like wood and raffia, together with elements that bring in the tropicalism from the samba country with its colorful patterns made of mosaic tiles, parrots and an overwhelming incorporation of plants.
© Luis Beltran
Immediately when entering the restaurant, you can acknowledge the raffia circles that represent the hats used during the rice collection in the country of the rising sun and that are here merged in an explosive way with the colorful mosaic tiles and tropical plants. Once reaching the bar, again we encounter the mix between Japan and Brazil through the traditional Japanese wooden pattern on the bar itself and the colored patterns inspired by the Brazilian Seventies.
© Luis Beltran
Also, here we can find the parrot lamps with a palm leaf that as all the other decorative lamps were specifically designed for the project. On the upper floor on the other hand anew we find a combination of the original heritage from the space, fusion with tropical and Japanese elements; A look that clearly can be recognized through the round seating corners which are half inspired by Brazil and half inspired by Japan.
© Luis Beltran