SOTTOSTUDIOS
EXPERIENTIAL SOLUTIONS
Rivera Restaurant.
Downtown Los Angeles
This Mayan inspired wall of bronze Rivera logos form an ancient "language".
Sotto reimagines modern latin dining as an immersive and differentiated experience
"I ate at Rivera more times than I really needed to. I couldn’t help myself."
- Irene S. Virbila, Los Angeles Times
From the Logo to the Furniture and Interior, Sotto created a seamless brand experience.
Rivera was born by Sotto mining Chef Sedlar's middle name, and that logo concept gave birth to a chair, grillwork, a brick of tequila and other extensions of the brand. Never art of art's sake, each detail was cumulative to something as fresh as the cuisine.
Designer and Chef in lockstep. Developing a space that feels like an extension of Sedlar's graphic dishes.
We began with Chef John Rivera Sedlar's vision for a modern Latin restaurant where Latin art comes to life both on the plate and in the space. We then created a "language" to tell that story. Mayan carvings and pre-Columbian culture were the inspiration for a dining experience that plays out in three distinct spaces. The story begins on the street with a bronze wall of Rivera hieroglyphics that finally disappear into the walnut entry door as a transition into another world. Once inside the "language" transforms itself into a series of bronze tasting chairs on a bed of brazilian marble. Crystal "bricks" of Sedlar's own Tequila are locked in a sanctuary wall where guests can access their own bottle and "sip the architecture," or taste flights from our own custom Tronas, tequila tasting chairs. Ambitious to say the least.
Crystal "bricks" of Rivera's private stock of Tequila reside under lock and key in the library.
The three dining rooms each lend a distinct experience. The Sangre dining room, Samba lounge, and Playa raw bar. According to Sotto "It was challenging to channel Sedlar's mind, but when the designer and the chef create the space together, it is truly seamless." Sotto's bronze Tronas chairs alone were designed around a special tasting plate. Chef and designer in mental lockstep.
Rivera gained acclaim not only for John's cuisine, but for it's continuity as a design that treated each course of the meal and a visual and experiential moment. The chance to collaborate with a talent like Chef Sedlar is a once in a lifetime event.
Everything matters. In the kitchen and on the drawing board.
In the end, SottoStudios created a total experience - from the music you hear, the media you see, the identity, furnishings, even down to the tequila bottle that informs the rest of the space.
The CGI video seen right depicts what the machines sees when cutting the steel structure for one of 8 Bronze "Tronas," tequila tasting chairs. These same files and shapes were also used to cut the exterior Bronze grilles, backbar, heads for the bottles of tequila in the library, and even the walnut front door.
