El Liston, A Monumental Project :
Designed by Gaetano Pesce, the El Liston Bar was part of the Hotel Il Palazzo in Fukuoka, Japan. The hotel’s interior design was reimagined by Shigeru Uchida.
“El Liston” means promenade. The space was conceived as an echo of Gaetano Pesce’s beloved Venetian alleyways – an architectural memory shaped by watery reflections and chromatic shifts.
Each alcove of the bar was crafted from a different material: mortar, iron, brass, clay, and event plastic. Gaetano Pesce took advantage of the generous ceiling height to design a maze of alcoves and hideaways. The winding path was deliberately shaped to stretch across the length of the bar, punctuated by intimate retreats that invited guests to explore the place while mainly preserving their privacy.
El Liston, Square Lamp
The Square Lamp was imagined in 1986. Originally conceived for the ambitious Japanese project of El Liston Bar, it is a reminder that Gaetano Pesce was an architect before becoming an artist.
Designed as a kind of luminous veil, the lamp casts a colorful light through its intricate form. Like lacework, the resin that composes it is delicate, fine, and opaque in some places. Light seeps through, revealing a masterful play of transparency.
Its resin screen is supported by heavy, lead feet robust and almost surreal in density, which creates a striking contrast with the lamp’s ethereal surface.
El Liston, A Monumental Project :
Designed by Gaetano Pesce, the El Liston Bar was part of the Hotel Il Palazzo in Fukuoka, Japan. The hotel’s interior design was reimagined by Shigeru Uchida.
“El Liston” means promenade. The space was conceived as an echo of Gaetano Pesce’s beloved Venetian alleyways – an architectural memory shaped by watery reflections and chromatic shifts.
Each alcove of the bar was crafted from a different material: mortar, iron, brass, clay, and event plastic. Gaetano Pesce took advantage of the generous ceiling height to design a maze of alcoves and hideaways. The winding path was deliberately shaped to stretch across the length of the bar, punctuated by intimate retreats that invited guests to explore the place while mainly preserving their privacy.
Palazzo Il was so a remarkably bold and collaborative space. Alongside Pesce, legendary designers like Shiro Kuramata, Aldo Rossi, and Ettore Sottsass contributed to the project, united by a shared love of radical design.
Each of the hotel’s four bars offered a completely unique experience. The goal was to prove that within these divergent creative directions, each emblematic of its designer’s universe, radical design could both challenge and welcome.
Kuramata elevated plexiglass with stunning virtuosity; Rossi and Sottsass added architectural gravitas; Gaetano Pesce, on the other hand, drew on his Venetian memories to create an immersive and emotional spatial journey.
