Spanish studio Paco Lago has designed The Pastrami Club in the heart of Malaga‘s nightlife area, a few steps from the popular Plaza de La Merced.
New York, second decade of the twentieth century. The sale of alcohol is prohibited and the so-called ‘speakeasy’ or clandestine slums, bars behind closed doors, exclusive and where only a few have access.
The imprint left by those clandestine spaces was such that since then all cities have their exclusive secret club, and Malaga was not going to be less. The clueless traveler who walks down the street will run into a small pastrami sandwich bar, although when you open the bathroom door ….. everything change!.
Unconventional project
The creative studio Paco Lago Interioriza accepted the challenge of an unconventional project, designing thinking about a clandestine club concept involved a series of creative challenges, such as, for example, the one that involved the lighting of the entire premises: exclusive luminaires integrated into a custom-made coffered ceiling that can move rhythmically or remain fixed, or a roof of square boxes that curves until it merges with the back of the bar, in which each case is a lamp that changes color and intensity.
As for vertical coverings, Paco Lago chose economical, versatile and resistant materials to which all its aesthetic potential has been taken out: mirrors, vinyl coverings, lattices, metal curtains, stone or fabric. The lounge bar stands out for its marble counter behind which the illuminated retro niches that form the back of the bar shine.
Key word is “surprise”
Perhaps the key word to define Pastrami Club is ‘surprise’. Surprise from the outside, through the pastrami sandwiches bar, surprise with access to the club through the gentlemen’s bathroom where everything is upside down, surprise to find the lounge and its unique play of lights or its exclusive bar surprise yourself when you go beyond the red curtain and enjoy the exclusive pink room, or when you enter through the VIP access and think that you have entered hell. In short, surprise with a different speech.
This has been one of the last projects carried out by the studio, which, encouraged by the change of mentality of the local entrepreneur, increasingly aware of the added value of the current interior design for any business, proposes creative solutions designed by and for each model of business, promoting and giving value to the client’s brand, creating comfortable spaces, making a business functional, current, different. In short, designing successful business models.
