Michele De Lucchi’s First stools line the curved bar, its ochre wood-grain front warmed by concealed lighting, while an amber strip curtain glows towards the kitchen. To the right, striped tables and blue disc-backed chairs, also from Michele De Lucchi’s First series face a rust-red veneered wall. Beside it stands a teal media unit stacked with vintage monitors and speakers.

Seth & Manni’s Brings Memphis Milano’s Radical Spirit to Ibiza

Words by Yatzer

Av. 8 d'Agost, 29, Eivissa, Ibiza, Spain

Ibiza’s reputation as a global capital of electronic music is built on its legendary clubs and the world-class DJs who take up residence every summer. Announcements of new residencies are therefore hardly surprising; news of two internationally acclaimed DJs opening a restaurant, however, is another matter. Longtime friends Seth Troxler and Manfredi “DJ Tennis” Romano have done just that with Seth & Manni’s, a neighbourhood deli and cocktail bar in Marina Botafoch. Overlooking the harbour towards the historic walled city of Dalt Vila, the venue brings together their shared passion for food, music and conviviality in an exuberant interior designed by Toby Gauley in collaboration with Memphis Milano, whose irreverent spirit resonates with Troxler and Romano’s creative ethos, appetite for experimentation and disregard for convention.

The two founders of Seth & Manni's pose at a striped bistro table, one resting his chin on the other's shoulder. Behind them, a teal-lacquered alcove holds speakers and stacked records against Memphis-patterned backing, framed by grey wood-grain veneer. In the foreground, the glossy blue disc of a First chair looms large.

Manfredi “DJ Tennis” Romano (left) and Seth Troxler. Photography by Nacho Dorado.

A pink turntable in the foreground sets the tone for the dining room at Seth & Manni's, where Michele De Lucchi’s blue disc-backed First chairs gather around striped tables. Beyond, the teal media wall of monitors, speakers and records meets grey and rust-red wood-grain walls. Theatrical spotlights hang from the black ceiling.

Photography by Nacho Dorado.

In the dining room of Seth & Manni's, rows of Michele De Lucchi's First chairs gather around striped tables, their glossy blue disc backs and black spheres catching the light. A teal unit of speakers, records and monitors stands against grey wood-grain walls. A full-height glass wall opens onto the terrace beneath a zigzag awning.

Photography by Nacho Dorado.

The venture is less of a departure from their musical careers than it might initially seem. Raised in Michigan and shaped by Detroit’s music and food culture, Troxler has already tried his hands at hospitality with Smokey Tails, his American barbecue project. Sicily-born Romano, meanwhile, is a trained cook who has long explored his culinary interests through Munchietown, his platform for cooking videos and dining experiences. Both are also fixtures of Ibiza's summer nightlife, so Seth & Manni's gives the pair a foothold on the island that outlasts the season.

Their unconventional approach to hospitality finds a natural counterpart in Memphis Milano, the radical design collective founded in Milan in 1981 by Ettore Sottsass and a group of architects and designers, whose work defied modernism’s functionalist orthodoxy and restrained aesthetics. Seth & Manni’s marks the design group’s first official restaurant collaboration, extending its distinctive visual vocabulary of clashing colours, exaggerated geometries, graphic patterns and unexpected material combinations from collectible design to an immersive hospitality environment.

A frontal view of the open kitchen shows an ochre wood-grain counter on a checkerboard skirting, beneath a stainless-steel hood punctuated by perforated vent panels. A teal overhang snakes across the composition between yellow pendant lights. A cobalt wall with a porthole window separates the black-tiled kitchen from the record wall beyond.

Photography by Nacho Dorado.

Michele De Lucchi’s First stools line the curved bar, its ochre wood-grain front warmed by concealed lighting, while an amber strip curtain glows towards the kitchen. To the right, striped tables and blue disc-backed chairs, also from Michele De Lucchi’s First series face a rust-red veneered wall. Beside it stands a teal media unit stacked with vintage monitors and speakers.

Photography by Nacho Dorado.

Beneath a sweeping teal overhang and an orange ribbed soffit, the open kitchen at Seth & Manni's reveals black-tiled walls, red enamel casseroles and stainless-steel ranges. A cobalt-blue panel and brushed-steel sink frame the right side. Wine fridges and branded T-shirts appear on the left.

Photography by Nacho Dorado.

Gauley’s design channels this sensibility through a riotous interplay of colour, pattern and texture, tempered by the industrial character of stainless-steel surfaces and exposed black ceilings. Sweeping teal architectural overhangs introduce a sense of movement above the open kitchen and bar, while cove ceilings lined with orange ribbed detailing and cobalt-blue panels add further accents of colour. Swirling ALPI wood-grain veneers, originally developed by Sottsass for Memphis objects, lend an almost psychedelic quality to counters and wall surfaces, contrasting with the crisp diagonal stripes of the custom-made tabletops and checkerboard skirtings, while a wall-mounted installation of vintage television screens, speakers, vinyl records and audio equipment nods to the founders’ musical backgrounds. Original Memphis pieces are integrated throughout, including Ettore Sottsass’ iconic Carlton bookcase and Michele De Lucchi’s 1983 First chairs and stools, whose circular electric-blue backrests and slender tubular-metal frames give the dining and bar areas a playful, retro-futurist character.

  • A close-up of the teal-lacquered media wall at Seth & Manni's shows four vintage Sony monitors set into a speckled grey panel. Blue patterned shelves hold JBL speakers, vinyl records, a turntable and a vintage amplifier against squiggle-patterned backing. The ensemble recalls the founders' lives behind the decks.

    Photography by Nacho Dorado.

  • Ettore Sottsass's 1981 Carlton bookcase stands in sunlight by the window at Seth & Manni's. Its angled shelves in yellow, orange, blue and grey rise from a black-and-white patterned laminate base. The piece casts crisp geometric shadows across the floor beside a stainless-steel column

    Photography by Nacho Dorado.

  • At Seth & Manni's, wood-grey veneer meets a rust-red panel of the same swirling figure, set off by a gilt-framed photographic artwork depicting a crucifixion. A checkerboard skirting runs along the base. An amber strip curtain glows at the left edge, completing a study in contrasting veneers.

    Photography by Nacho Dorado.

A long stainless-steel kitchen island at Seth & Manni's leads the eye towards glazed walls and a zigzag-patterned awning. A teal overhang curves above, and chunky yellow and red pendant lights hang from the black ceiling. Ettore Sottsass's Carlton bookcase stands by the window like a totem of Memphis geometry.

Photography by Nacho Dorado.

Seen from across the kitchen counter, Ettore Sottsass’ Carlton bookcase is silhouetted against the glazed façade, its colourful geometry mirrored in the black glass of an induction hob. A teal overhang and yellow pendant light frame the upper edge. The zigzag awning and a white modernist building beyond complete the layered composition.

Photography by Nacho Dorado.

A deli corner at Seth & Manni's combines grey wood-grain cabinetry, turquoise shelves of pickle jars and glass-fronted fridges stocked with beer and wine. Overhead, branded T-shirts hang from a chain beside a row of vintage Sony monitors. A black-and-white checkerboard floor grounds the display.

Photography by Nacho Dorado.

The same eclecticism carries through to the menu, where American deli staples meet Sicilian street-food traditions, Mediterranean influences and island-sourced ingredients. An elevated cocktail programme developed with international bar consultancy Soulshakers completes the offering. Ultimately, Seth & Manni's is a neighbourhood gathering place at heart, where the founders' instinct for bringing people together simply trades the dancefloor for the dining table.

A symmetrical view of the bar at Seth & Manni's shows five First stools designed by Michele De Lucchi aligned before an ochre wood-grain counter edged in checkerboard tiles. Above, a brushed stainless-steel wall carries three perforated vent panels. An orange ribbed fascia and black tiles frame the illuminated back bar and an amber strip curtain.

Photography by Nacho Dorado.