Edited by Toby maxwell
WHEN NACHO SAL SILLA and his business partners contacted Clap Studio, they had just created the first home-delivered artisanal bao company in their hometown of Valencia and had the dream of opening the first bao restaurant in the Spanish city.
They had been living and travelling for years around Asia, America and Africa and with the same adventurous spirit they created Baovan, a project inspired by their surfing and exploring lifestyle.
Clap Studio’s challenge was to reflect the spirit and personality of Baovan, a brand linked to the sea and with a very specific brand ethos of ‘beers, beach and baos’. The goal was to transport the visitor to a beach from where they could watch the sunset and enjoy some handmade baos.
The space is divided into three. From the outside, visitors first see the forest – a porch full of ropes that fall from the ceiling representing a dense vegetation. Once the visitor crosses this zone, they discover the beach and its sunset – a screen, in the shape of a half moon, attracts the eye; it has been programmed by Vitamin Studio to recreate the colours of a sunset and to match its duration to a dinner service. The interior aims to create a constant duality of colours reflecting water. On the ceiling is a recreation of a blanket of clouds intended to bring added atmosphere, reflecting the lights of the sunset that is in constant movement. Baovan hides one more area: a reserved space for ten people who can experience dinner in the moonlight.
Round and crescent shapes are repeated throughout, from the windows that connect the exterior to the interior, to the lighting installation, to the chairs designed exclusively for the restaurant that represent the shape of an open bao bread. www.weareclap.com
