Faced with the restaurant’s endearing yet tired historic interiors, rather than wiping the slate clean and starting over, the designers have retained the existing layout and recycled the signature materials, namely wood and brass, using the former for wall and ceiling panelling and the latter for bespoke furnishings. The reuse of the building materials was part of the project’s focus on craftsmanship, which saw MESURA collaborating with a team of local artisans to complement the minimalist elegance of their design with a hand-crafted sensibility. Case in point, the cast-in-situ terrazzo flooring (a blend of marble, quartz, granite and glass chips mixed on-site with a cement and polymer-based binder) featuring a distinctive geometric pattern of white marble tiles. White and tan fabrics complement the natural wood, marble and terrazzo surfaces, while providing softer textures.

The muted colour palette is boldly punctured by large areas swathed in navy blue in various materials and textures, whose rounded contours echo the arched doorway, spherical lamps and other circular details. The choice of dark blue alludes to the restaurant’s intimate relationship with the Mediterranean Sea, as well as evokes, in combination with the timber finishes, a seafaring vibe – thankfully without the need for any literal references or maritime iconography. Effortlessly elegant and playfully sophisticated, MESURA’s interior design is at its heart “an ode to the life of the local fishermen from the past, and those still bringing in the fish today”.