Inspired from Samurai armors and Japanese writing characters (kanji), the Tori Tori Santa Fe in Mexico City is the fifth project from the renowned line of Japanese restaurants. Designed by local architecture practice Esrawe Studio, they merged Japanese craftsmanship with geometric abstraction creating a large open space more contemporary than austere, and yet subtly poetic.
Inspired by the subtlety and sobriety of Japanese craft skill, the serene and monochromatic atmosphere emphasizes the scale of the space with two hanging elements made in holm oak. Of monumental size and expression, their texture evokes Samurai armor; above all, the breastplate known in Japanese as d?.
One of these elements demarcates the area for “grab and go” food.
The larger of the two rises up over the main teppanyaki table as a cylindrical extraction hood, both transformed into lighting objects that define and delimit, thanks to their scale, the two poles of the restaurant.
The main wall, home to the sushi bar, is swathed in low-reliefs designed around the abstract stylization of the Kanji characters with pure geometric graphics. Besides the central area, the restaurant also boasts a terrace with teppanyaki tables and a private dining room.
