Sistos Santomate Restaurant

Case description

We delivered a comprehensive custom furniture solution for Sistos Santomate Restaurant, meticulously shaping natural materials into their most refined forms to deeply harmonize with the space’s architectural context—one evocative of earth art.

With terracotta tones and organic, curvilinear structures serving as its visual core, the project faced a central challenge: integrating furniture seamlessly with the building’s non-linear boundaries. The client’s primary pain point stemmed from the interior’s abundance of curved walls—featuring a handcrafted rammed-earth texture—and its multi-level flooring. Standard off-the-shelf furniture appeared jarringly rigid within these non-standard spaces; not only did it disrupt the spatial flow, but it also undermined the primal, cave-like atmosphere the architect sought to create. Furthermore, the restaurant required furniture capable of withstanding high-frequency commercial use. The client was concerned that materials emphasizing a raw, natural texture might prove rough to the touch, difficult to clean, or suffer from diminished visual appeal under the complex interplay of light and shadow.

Our solution involved a dual strategy: fitting organic curvilinear forms to the space and applying a micro-crystalline sealing treatment for protection. To ensure spatial integration, we utilized 5-axis CNC woodworking technology to craft a suite of bespoke tables and chairs featuring fluid, biomorphic shapes. Their contours were precision-engineered to align with the curves of the rammed-earth walls with millimeter-level accuracy, creating the illusion that the furniture had sprouted organically from the very ground. To balance durability with tactile comfort, we subjected the selected walnut and white oak timbers to a meticulous, multi-stage hand-sanding process, followed by the application of a specialized micro-crystalline wax sealant. This technique preserves the wood’s natural porosity while forming a hydrophobic, oil-repellent molecular film on its surface—effectively resolving the issue of stain penetration inherent in dining environments while endowing the furniture with a smooth, warm tactility reminiscent of fine jade.

The Sistos Santomate operations team remarked: “This bespoke furniture collection serves as the crowning jewel of the architectural space. It perfectly dissolves the boundary between the rigid built structure and the soft service experience, ensuring that guests enjoy the utmost physical comfort even while immersed in a rugged, ‘cave-like’ setting.” They further noted that the furniture’s low-gloss finish reveals a remarkably rich spectrum of color nuances as the evening sunlight streams into the interior. The owner concluded: “Through the rational reinterpretation of natural materials, we have successfully delivered a furniture system that marries artistic expression with high commercial functionality, endowing the restaurant with an unparalleled sense of occasion.”