Architect Lorena Alessio was in charge of the restyling project for the Saizeriya restaurant chain, a renowned Japanese chain that offers quality Italian cuisine in Japan with a widespread distribution in the territory of about a thousand restaurants in a "fast casual dining" formula. The restyling began in 2012 and is still ongoing.
"Redefining an enveloping and contemporary atmosphere for the setting of the restaurants and the target audience," is the goal of architect Lorena Alessio. Originally based in Turin, she has significant experience in Japan, and was tasked with redesigning the chain's aesthetic and design concept to be able to meet the fast-paced demands of daily life with an Italian dining experience. And all the while, meeting the demands and expectations of both a younger, fresh and dynamic audience and a family audience.
The first project was entrusted to the architectural firm Lorena Alessio in 2012 with the aim of initially identifying and determining the guidelines for the corporate identity, the so-called "Design Guidelines," and an initial prototype, developed to test the clients' appreciation, cost, and quality control. The commissioner's idea was to decide how many to implement based on the success of this new concept. It involved partial interventions on the exterior, but also interior interventions, furniture design, graphics, and setting the menu. Then, at a later stage, the guidelines would be applied to the other dining venues, taking into consideration that every year, the Saizeriya chain was opening an average of forty new restaurants and renovating others.
"We worked on the theme of landscape," Lorena Alessio explains, " suggesting three types of new sceneries, while maintaining the initial concept that was inspired by the theme of Italy as a Mediterranean country with its warm and welcoming colors. The project thus developed on a concept of Italian identity expressed through a reinterpretation of four main Italian landscapes and their colors: Mediterranean, olive groves, wheat fields, and grape fields. For the first, the design was based on the colors and villages of the sea. The others are three main products at the base of Italian cuisine that inspired the color palettes used for the new designs. Colors as extrapolation of landscapes, where to find the Italian identity, food and traditions.
A strong interrelationship between graphics and architectural design helped define a unique concept, with a warm and cool atmosphere. Consistent graphics were designed for wall and panel images, signs, and artifacts. "The whole restaurant has a special atmosphere given by the colors and graphics specifically designed for the environment. We selected a whole series of images and presented them starting from enlargements of Italian landscapes that resembled the pixels used in the flooring. Each element had to tell the whole purpose and meaning of this narrative," continues Lorena Alessio.
The ultimate goal was to make people who enter the restaurants experience the Italian lifestyle in all its nuances – from history, to traditions, culture, art, fashion, and styles of the Italian settings. The restyling of Saizeriya restaurants is therefore based on the feelings, sensations, and sense of beauty that people experience. The floors, with various shades of green or yellow, are referred to as the Ristorante Sul Prato and the Ristorante Sulla Spiaggia, recalling the grass and sandy beaches. Some areas of the restaurants, the "islands," recall on the other hand the landscapes and colors of olive trees, wheat, and vineyards.
Seven years after that first project, the architect Alessio was commissioned in 2019 to develop a new concept based on making the venues more attractive to a higher target audience, designed particularly for businesspeople who would gather at the venues after work.
The idea was to play on the chic'n'glam theme based on three distinctive concepts: charm, romance, and captivation.
Three themes that identify different design concepts, a journey through sensations, emotions, memories derived from time spent through Italian homes and cities. This narrative is echoed in the upholstery and furnishings among colors, shapes, and views typical of the Italian landscape.
The theme of Charm was developed through the design of textures that had a reference to maps of Italian cities. All played out in shades of gray, light blue and silver.
The theme of Captivation was interpreted through the use of antique textures replicated on large walls that could evoke the atmosphere of the house and garden, with large mirrors on the walls.
The theme of Romance is basically based on the delicate colors of large paintings reminiscent of the bubbles in a champagne glass. This is illuminated by remarkable ceiling lamps of rounded shapes.
The furniture designs and arrangements proposed were created by architect Alessio in ten different patterns and decorations and are made on site, as are the uniforms of the restaurant chain's employees to create an all-around total look.
