Anagrama for the Montelena restaurant in Mexico

Mexican creative practice Anagrama designed the architecture, interior design and branding of Montelena, a venue for exclusive food tasting and culinary gatherings in San Pedro Garza García in the state of Nuevo Léon, Mexico.


Anagrama is a specialist practice in branding and visual communication through architectural and design interventions, and it came up with the concept for the space and identity of the Montelena restaurant. The restaurant is located in the centre of San Pedro Garza García, in the “wider metropolitan zone of Montererey”, in the state of Nuevo Léon. It was designed as a convivial venue, based on the work by the famous Italian architect, Carlo Scarpa and his often enigmatic architecture.
In actual fact, Anagrama designed the Montelena in collaboration with the Chef Alberto Sentíes who prepares his culinary delights here, as a secret place, into which you have to earn your entry. After you manage to find the entrance in the urban setting and step inside, you are treated to a totalising experience. A long, bare, skilfully lit concrete hallway leads to the restaurant's dining room.
The bold materials - concrete, steel and aluminium - are offset by Anagrama's clever use of lighting and natural materials like stone and clay. Plants and natural objects accent the naturalness that also emerges in the dishes offered.
The experience for diners at the Montelena restaurant doesn't stop at the architectural spaces and the interior design: Anagrama also extended the concept to the branding, including the menu and business cards with a colour palette ranging from grey through to rose gold, where the geometric pattern of a maze is referenced both in the mystery of Chef Alberto Sentíes' cuisine, and in the enigmatic architecture of Carlo Scarpa.

Christiane Bürklein

Project: Anagrama, http://www.anagrama.com/
Location: San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo Léon, MX
Year: 2015
Images: Caroga Fotos, www.carogafoto.com