In April 2018, Dulcamara, the new restaurant of Nicola Perrucci – caterer and chef with a focus on tradition – opened its doors in Altamura, Apulia region, Italy.
The whole concept of the restaurant is built on the image of dulcamara, a bitter-sweet officinal plant with healing properties, also used in cooking. The features of this special plant are mirrored everywhere in this innovative project.
Exactly like the stems of dulcamara, everything in the restaurant rises towards the ceiling, whose double-heights allowed to reproduce the central idea of “ascending”.
The floors feature grey tiles from the Masai collection by INALCO, a material that gives an elegant and natural touch to the whole setting and from which the long metallic dulcamara stems rise up to a ceiling featuring slatted acoustic panels. This acoustic isolation creates an environment as natural and cosy as possible, made of “muffled” sounds, allowing customers to go through an authentic multisensory experience: a meal which does not only appeal to taste, but also to touch, hearing, sight, smell…
Light plays a major role in the project and it is there for a specific purpose: to bring out every single detail. The “superloop” lights by Delta Light take the lion’s share: dimmable rings of three different sizes, which send light upwards and downwards throughout the place, while spotlights and LED strips create different light sets in other parts of the restaurant (entry, corridor, toilets…).
Dulcamara is a project focused on experience and the awakening of the senses. As customers get in, they can “touch” the natural features of the materials, smell its perfumes and take a seat on a long bench made of soft fabric, observe the bronze leaves shimmer and let the soft background music embrace them – while starting their culinary journey through the chef’s delicacies.
Special thanks:
Project by architects: Imma Digregorio, Stefano Lorusso, Giovanni Maiullari
Framework of bronze stems and leaves: Nuzzi Metal Design
Carpentry: Del Medico
Glass: Vetro Design
