2025 | Professional

MUSE Design Awards Gold Winner

MAZU JAPANESE CUISINE

Entrant Company

Studio Guilherme Bez

Category

Lighting Design - Ambient Lighting

Client's Name

Country / Region

Brazil

Mazu in Japanese means “first, before anything else”. The restaurant is an immersion in Japanese culture with traditional elements contemporarily applied to it. On Mazu’s ground floor there is an entrance hall, a front room, and a main room with a central conveyor belt (kaiten) that rotates and transports dishes allowing customers to pick them up at will. On the upper floor there is a mezzanine for events and private parties. Natural elements such as bamboo are one of the project protagonists. On the facade, bamboo is employed in circular shapes in different sizes creating a slight undulation. At the restaurant entrance, bamboo appears on the ceiling, wall and reception counter in linear black half-circle shapes. On the ceiling of the main room it emerges in linear inverted half-circle shapes, called “bamboo soul”, in a honey tone with built-in lighting. Furthermore, large bamboos have been used on the handrail of the staircase that leads to the mezzanine. The landscaping of the internal flower box has also been made of bamboo, in its natural form, with lighting coming from the ground. Welcoming our customers, the giant translucent four-meter-long orange fish is one of the restaurant highlights.”Floating” and lit from within it creates, alongside with a local artist hand-painted wall, an impression of waves originating in the Japanese seas. Luminaires reminiscent of Japanese lanterns were designed for the room. A custom fan-shaped coating has been installed at the sushi bar. The cocktail bar also features gradients with glass tiles in shades of blue. The furniture exclusively designed for the restaurant is made of solid wood, fabrics and blue glass. Curtains textured with pink cherry trees fall from the double-height ceiling. Additionally, a Japanese paper pendant illuminates the arrival of customers in the entrance hall. Another mezzanine highlight is a large backlit fabric panel with an image of a geisha. On the upper floor we can, through a glass skin, contemplate the external landscaping which brings Japanese natural elements such as the cherry tree, an illuminated bamboo among other plants.

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