Koi, the impressive lighting tour de force designed by Inocuo The Sign and Mariví Calvo, cuts a striking figure at the new Kohakinho sushi restaurant in Lugano, Switzerland.
LZF’s Koi in Kohakinho sushi restaurant.
Kohakinho sushi restaurant is the brainchild of Rogerio Matsumoto Figueiredo. A chef from São Paulo, Brazil, Figueiredo has been cooking up a storm with his sushi and fusion flavours. Figueiredo’s cuisine is influenced by his heritage: with a Japanese mother and a Brazilian father, his cooking blends Japan’s penchant for precision with Brazil’s colourful culture.
Chef Rogerio Matsumoto Figueiredo (second from right).
With it ethereal-like beauty, Koi has a magnetic presence, one that captures the eye. An enchanting sculpture, Koi is part of LZF’s Life Size collection of lamps that encapsulate our penchant for dreaming big. Koi is handmade with a traditional Valencian craft technique known as vareta. The overlaying of wooden slats—with a similar character to fish scales—is referred to as the ‘Koi Fabric’. In essence, to create Koi, many small pieces of LZF’s wood veneer are combined to make a ‘skin’ that covers a wood frame or skeleton. (Read about the vareta technique in an interview with master artisan Manolo Martin here.)
A shimmering Koi with Kriskadecor’s chain curtains.
In Kohakinho sushi restaurant, Koi’s translucent skin creates a rippling and shimmering light, an effect that complements the restaurant’s glittering chain curtains. Made by Spanish brand Kriskadecor, the anodised aluminium chains, in a range of hues (including orange, gold, and blue), were chosen to reflect Kohakinho’s elegant and quirky character.
Sushi and wine at Kohakinho.
The koi is a much respected and symbolic fish in Japan. Symbolising strength, this ornamental carp is thought to represent luck and prosperity. The inclusion of LZF’s Koi in Rogerio Matsumoto Figueiredo’s Kohakinho sushi restaurant, is the perfect representation of that Japanese strength as well as Figueiredo’s Japanese heritage. At the same time, the sparkling interior—a festival of colour that would not look out of place in Rio de Janeiro’s famous Carnival—embodies Figueiredo’s Brazilian roots.
Kohakinho sushi restaurant architect and interior designer: Bruner Huber Architetti.
Photos by FTfoto photographic studio.
