Studio Public are specialists in creating spaces that, although newly opened, seem to have a long history, spinning a tale as if they have been at their address forever. This time, the architectural narrative will take visitors to sunny Italy, transporting them to the hot south through the interior of Bar Ragazzi in Warsaw. Will you stop by for a coffee, aperitif or cichetti?
Warsaw's Hala Koszyki is the downtown epicenter of the capital's gastronomy. There are stalls, islands, establishments small and large. The latter category once included the premises that now house the Zachodni Brzeg pub run by Karol Szafraniec and Bartek Serdakowski. The owners decided to "carve out" a modest 28 square meters from their premises and set up a second restaurant, or rather an Italian bar, where you can have a coffee or a drink, followed by a Mediterranean snack, all in an interior with a true Italian flair.
Bar Ragazzi in Warsaw
Photo: Maja Bułkowska © Studio Public
a new place with history
A modest 28 square meters - not much more than the smallest apartment allowed by law. But it was enough to accommodate a bar, seating for a dozen people and decor that tells a story as if Ragazzi had been here for years. The Italian eatery was located in the west wing of the 19th-century Koszyki Hall, in no small place - right by the gate entrance. Above the large display window are still antique painted signs, inviting visitors for coffee, ice cream and pastries. A new element of the shop window is the neon sign "BAR" and the restaurant's logo - although much less geometric, the color scheme is strongly reminiscent of the historic yellow and maroon polychromes.
The real highlight of the display window, however, is what's behind it - the decor of the Ragazzi bar and the silhouettes of the people who spend their afternoons and evenings enjoying Italian drinks and classics of Venetian cuisine.
Bar Ragazzi in Warsaw
photo: Maja Bułkowska © Studio Public
Ragazzi bar in Warsaw
The central role in the Ragazzi bar is played by the eponymous...bar! It is the one that organizes the interior and occupies a significant part of it. As the authors of the project write, it refers to classic structures of this type. The front is made of three materials. The pedestal, supporting the entire bar, used steel, above it there were wooden sides, and at the very top, just below the tabletop, rectangular mirrored panels were fixed. The tabletop itself is another, equally Italian story....
Bar Ragazzi in Warsaw
Photo: Maja Bułkowska © Studio Public
Carrara fantasy
As befits an interior of Italian origin, it couldn't lack the material that still makes ancient Roman temples so noble, Sienese cathedrals so white and Florentine palaces so elaborate with sculptures. The famous Carrara marble was used in all the countertops, becoming a visually cohesive element in the interior of the Ragazzi bar. The noble material was cut in many sizes and shapes - from the polygonal consoles hanging against the walls, through the round, organic shapes of the table located in the center of the establishment, to the bar table in front of the window, on the upper edge of which fanciful patterns were carved.
Bar Ragazzi in Warsaw
Photo: Maja Bułkowska © Studio Public
high-flying interior
Seats have been placed under the high-mounted tabletops, the type of which perfectly matches the philosophy of Bar Ragazzi - a place where you will spend your time talking over drinks and small snacks. Creating the interior of the premises, the designers from Studio Public made great use of high hockers, which allow better use of the small space, and at the same time promote integration.
Bar Ragazzi in Warsaw
Photo: Maja Bułkowska © Studio Public
design from head to toe
As in the case of Mokotow's Grazyna 1 milk bar, designers from Studio Public used second-hand materials in the Ragazzi bar. The aforementioned hockers were again provided by Krześlarz, or Mateusz Frankowski - a specialist in vintage chairs, stools, tables and sofas, where you can find gems of world design. However, the real stars of this interior are not the chairs, or even the marble tops, but what's above them.
A wooden liquor shelf surrounds the entire establishment, and a neon ribbon stretches under and above it in a fancy shape. An element that becomes the leitmotif of the designers from Studio Public (it appears, among others, in their Lodz realization of the Sartoria restaurant).
- The designers write about the Ragazzi bar.
Ragazzi bar in Warsaw
Photo: Maja Bułkowska © Studio Public
an old house with a second life
The surprise is the lighting. Light, in addition to a neon sign and a few wall sconces, is provided by a lamp, which is hard to find in other Warsaw interiors. Mikołaj Wojciechowski, Maciej Granecki and Maciej Kuratczyk, designers from Studio Public, scouted it out at an antique market. The metallic, glossy design, twinned with designs that in the 1960s,. Angelo Brotto made for the Italian brand Esperia, harmonizes with the chrome structures of the hockers and chairs, fastening with a glossy buckle what is on the floor and just below the ceiling of the Italian bar in the heart of Warsaw.
