We were commissioned to design the new location for Bazaar in Chicago, a city with the 3rd biggest population in the US, home to incredible architecture, a rich museum scene, known for its many innovations in a variety of fields, from natural history and architecture to food and science. Bazaar is not just a dining experience, it offers a creativity mix of sophisticated cuisine, artful service and playful theatrics, so we needed to design something unique and that stands out from what both TFG and Chicago had so what we wanted to create something fun but keeping the elegance.

We combined 2 sources of inspiration. The incredible landscapes from the North of Spain, the place where Chef José Andres was born and a region with a strong maritime heritage, home to such amazing sites were you can find not just pristine sandy beaches but also rugged cliffs, mountain peaks and calm lakes. So since it offers the perfect combination of magical villages, wide green landscapes and dreamy beaches, we wanted to reflect that in the new location we created for Chicago. That’s why we went with really natural and with a kind of raw finish for the materials selection and mixing it with our other source of inspiration, Fire the main character in the kitchen, an element that also symbolizes or passion and energy, that makes people gather around, warms the space, therefore from it we took its warmness and our main color palette to generate a cozy environment for the clients.

In Bar Mar you have a huge Octopus as the bar crown that acts as a Lamp/Installation The octopus is a spectacular piece of 14ft length, it uses a combination of two materials, the tentacles are wrapped in woven rattan and the head is all covered is PVC Slides with a wood finish look that gives the looks of fish scales. The whole piece is backlit so it adds the glow effect and catches the eye.

In Bazaar Meat, we didn’t want to have just a regular lamp or a normal ceiling, two special fixtures were specially selected and crafted to fill the space like hanging flames. Something that catches the eye, not just of the clients in the restaurant but also of the people that is walking or driving by, it can also be seen from the river, so the intention was to generate intrigue and for that curiosity to spike everyone’s interest and come and taste all the wonderful creations from Chef Jose Andres.