Working on the design of the French cake shop Nad & Greg brought us both positive surprises and propitious circumstances. The concept, prepared in haste for our friends from Belgium and France, was getting its final shape in parallel with the work on site, to be completed in just three months – from March to May 2016. The creative process resembled taking part in design competitions “on time”. The chamber space on the ground floor of the tenement-house from the early 20th century on Kraków’s Podgórze Market Square was gradually revealing its big potential. Surprisingly, it turned out to be tailored to the needs of a small cake shop. First of all we eliminated unattractive blue tiling in the interior discovering a historical stone floor, that we decided to restore. Consequently, the characteristic mosaic of light and dark panels of marble determined rather minimalist approach to other elements of the arrangement. Our next move consisted in clearing and exposing preserved cross vaults by means of discreet, indirect lighting. Later we equipped high and deep window niches in two main rooms with purpose designed pieces of furniture (integrating benches, tables and movable shutters). These forms frame views of the nearby street, the market square and the neo-Gothic church of St. Joseph designed by Jan Sas-Zubrzycki. The variable positions of shutters inform about the opening and closing times of the premises. These wooden elements are additionally enriched with distinctive “keyhole” perforations. The latter underline the viewing axes intersecting the whole interior, from the square to the courtyard, encouraging passers-by to look into the cake shop. Most of the furniture is made of bleached beech and oak wood, benches and chairs are additionally equipped with removable textile covers. This motif can be regarded as an architectural interpretation of the haute couture tailoring. The smaller golden room situated at the back of the interior, has a completely different character echoing the oeuvre of famous French artist – Yves Klein. Warm, intimate nature of this space is emphasized by the use of bulbs placed directly on the walls. Our architectural intervention is complemented with an artistic installation Les Étoils (Stars) on the ceilings of main halls. It constitutes a rather surprising interpretation of the historical tradition of vaults’ decoration. Rather than using figurative ornamentation it establishes indirect connection to the nature of the place, using names of French and Belgian science, culture and art celebrities. Decoding the artwork, however, is only possible by means of candleholders equipped with mirrors, placed on each of the tables. In this way the culinary and aesthetic experience is enriched with a kind of interactive game for all guests of the Nad & Greg cake shop.
