bocca lupo

is an Italian Tuscan restaurant. It is sunny, bright and happy as our best memories of Italy.

We gathered an eclectic mix of some of our favorites Italian icons from a Fiat 850 (1964) which is also the pizzaiolo’s work place to an oil painted replica of Rafael’s portrait of Lorenzo de Medici (1518), a Murano chandelier, some design classics: an Olivetti Lettera typewriter, an Italian racing  bicycle, a Vespa PX, plus many many Italian gourmet products to fill the shelves in the basement etc.

The chairs are our chunkier version of Gio Ponti’s Superleggera, we nicknamed it Lessleggera :). The other model of chair we found it as an illegal parking guardian was sitting on it on the streets of Bucharest, thought it’s beautiful, grabbed it and replicated with minor modifications in a small workshop in Transylvania. We pay our respect to the anonymous author (probably an engineer in one of the communist furniture factories in the 50’s), the design is beautiful, functional and extremely comfortable. The tables were designed to fit both chairs with their pointed legs characteristic for midcentury design and the tabletop routed in a way to appear thinner than in reality.

While looking for a limestone similar to the one used in Tuscany we dropped on this beautiful limestone from Dobrogea.  Even if it is not the original from Italy that we were looking for, its texture containing seashells not only is beautiful and interesting but is also a reminder of the seashore of Italy and its seafood.

The square pattern upholstery in the same material as the table cloth is meant to add an informal touch. It’s also an Italian classic for trattorias.

collaborator: arch. Bianca Beis, photography: Cosmin Dragomir