Alla lettera
Concept
Located in Turin’s central Piazza Bodoni, the restaurant begged for a “typographic” name. “Alla lettera” is a homage to the world of type design, to the shape of words. But in Italian “alla lettera” also means doing something fair and square, with high quality and tradition in mind. The perfect name for a place where cuisine meets graphic design: two worlds with similar dynamics, where the encounter of senses and needs is brought to life.
After all, in a time when publishing abuses food culture to sell books, why shouldn’t a pizza restaurant use an editorial concept to connote its spaces?
Development
The theme for the restaurant stems from the similarity between pizza and books: typography is used in every physical and graphical form, creating custom elements or reusing pre-existing ones. Allowing for great composition variety, the theme translates into customized individual rooms, created by professionals that lamatilde invited to take part in every aspect of the project.
Alla lettera’s logotype was set in Bodoni, but its trademark introduces the design theme by using Os from different font families to represent the business’s main product: pizza, which is always similar but never exactly the same because it is made by hand. The menu was designed like a newspaper, while staff’s uniforms by Antonio Rizza were inspired by those worn by printers in the age of movable type – sleeve covers included.
CREDITS
LEAD TIME
September 2012 – January 2013
SURFACE
220 square meter
ARCHITECTURAL AND INTERIOR DESIGN
lamatilde with Francesco Stassi e Nicola Di Fonso
IDENTITY AND COMMUNICATION DESIGN
lamatilde with Carlotta Bottino, Andrea Rossi, Michele Albera, Adriana Calogero, Antonella Capizzi
INSTALLATIONS AND ART
Sergio Cascavilla; Borromeo&deSilva; TODO; Bellissimo and the Beast; Undesign; Civico13
STAFF UNIFORMS
Antonio Rizza
MOVABLE TYPE
Comune di Bussoleno
Archivio Tipografico
CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
Di Maggio Costruzioni
TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT
ME Solutions s.r.l. – Chenna P.I. Franco Studio Di Termotecnica
STRUCTURES
Zeta-Associati
SETUP
PBA, Opus Artis