Suvai Bari is a Store Experience Design project that reimagines an Italian restaurant within a Chettinad home, creating a four-part journey where visitors learn, create, shop, and dine while exploring the cultural connections between the two regions.
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Stage 1
Investigated the architecture, material culture, visual language, and everyday experiences of both Chettinad and Southern Italy, particularly Bari, Puglia to uncover common threads between the two regions.
Stage 2
Translated these similarities into a spatial narrative, identifying key store components, customer experiences, and tile-inspired visual systems that could bridge both cultures.
Stage 3
Designed and executed the complete store experience, creating interiors, environmental graphics, room-specific tile identities, and brand touchpoints.
Suvai Bari (Taste Bari) A dining-room tile pattern inspired by the shared culture of gathering around food, incorporating forms drawn from plates, cutlery, glasses, and communal dining traditions.
Kaiyal Bari (Make Bari) A tile system developed for the pasta-making space, using the forms of different pasta varieties arranged into a symmetrical pattern language.
Sutri Bari (Explore Bari) A retail-focused tile pattern inspired by products sold within the space, including packaged pasta, accompaniments, and elements derived from the brand identity.
Parvai Bari (See Bari) A gallery-space tile pattern that incorporates paintbrush-inspired motifs, visual references to observation and craft, and forms derived from the brand mark.
What began as an opportunity to combine two cultures I love evolved into a deeper exploration of history, trade, and shared visual languages, and taught me that one of the things I love doing the most is finding unexpected connections.
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