{"id":15508,"date":"2025-10-22T23:29:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T16:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/india-mahdavi-and-we-are-ona-on-unveiling-their-rose-draped-speakeasy-for-art-basel-paris\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T23:29:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T16:29:58","slug":"india-mahdavi-and-we-are-ona-on-unveiling-their-rose-draped-speakeasy-for-art-basel-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/india-mahdavi-and-we-are-ona-on-unveiling-their-rose-draped-speakeasy-for-art-basel-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"india mahdavi and we are ona on unveiling their rose-draped speakeasy for art basel paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

india mahdavi and we are ona present rose, c\u2019est la vie<\/h2>\n

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Hidden behind an unmarked door in Paris\u2019 7th arrondissement, \u2018Rose, c\u2019est la vie\u2019 is an unexpected sanctuary of softness amid the intensity of Art Basel Paris 2025<\/strong><\/a>, conceived by architect and designer India Mahdavi<\/strong><\/a> in collaboration with Luca Pronzato, founder of We Are Ona<\/strong><\/a>, and Mexican chef Jes\u00fas Dur\u00f3n. The week-long pop-up is set inside a former car repair shop, turned into a radical speakeasy of texture, warmth, and color, where every surface is swathed in a floral pink<\/strong><\/a> textile<\/strong><\/a> inspired by the Rose d\u2019Ispahan. The project reimagines hospitality as an act of emotion, what Mahdavi calls \u2018the seriousness of happiness.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

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On the occasion of the event, designboom speaks<\/a> with Mahdavi and Pronzato about the origins of their collaboration and the making of this multisensory dining experience.<\/strong> \u2018<\/strong>We\u2019re in a world that is quite aggressive right now,\u2019 <\/em>Mahdavi tells us. <\/strong>\u2018The past is past and the future \u2014 we don\u2019t know. My work is always about creating memories, creating an ephemeral moment of happiness that you can take away with you.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

images by Laurent Giannesini<\/a>, unless stated otherwise<\/p>\n

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\u00a0a speakeasy of softness at art basel paris<\/h2>\n

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The collaboration, Pronzato explains, grew out of a long-standing admiration for Mahdavi\u2019s work. \u2018At We Are Ona, we create culinary experiences where we like to invite not only guest chefs but also creatives, designers, artists, and architects to think in their own way about the culinary experience,\u2019<\/em> the founder of the nomadic dining collective<\/a> shares with designboom.<\/strong> \u2018I\u2019ve always dreamed of working with India, and I\u2019m super happy today to celebrate her work and let our guests experience an India Mahdavi pop-up.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

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What began as conversations between Paris and Mexico evolved into the idea of an \u2018ultra-feminine, feminist speakeasy.\u2019<\/em> For Mahdavi, this was a conscious departure from We Are Ona\u2019s earlier projects, which she observed had been led mainly by men. \u2018I thought I had to make a rupture,\u2019<\/em> the Paris-based architect and designer<\/a> notes.<\/strong> \u2018A continuity within the quality, of course, but a rupture with the aesthetics that were being brutalist, minimalist, etc. I wanted it to be immersive \u2014 the experience has to start from the street. Where are you going? How do you enter? Having a bit of a surprise.\u2019\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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That sense of discovery guided the search for the venue. After reviewing several options, the team settled on an old carrosserie, a former car workshop, where the rough industrial shell could contrast with Mahdavi\u2019s delicate transformation, as her design wraps the entire interior in a bespoke textile inspired by the Rose d\u2019Ispahan, a small and fragrant Persian flower often used in decorative arts. Find our full conversation with Luca Pronzato of We Are Ona and India Mahdavi below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Rose, c\u2019est la vie\u2019 is an unexpected sanctuary of softness amid the intensity<\/p>\n

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in conversation with India Mahdavi and Luca Pronzato<\/h2>\n

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designboom (DB): How did the idea for this collaboration come about? When did you start talking about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Luca Pronzato (LP):<\/strong> At We Are Ona, we create culinary experiences where we like to invite not only guest chefs but also creatives, designers, artists, and architects to think in their own way about the culinary experience. We are a culinary experience. And I\u2019ve always been dreaming to work with India Mahdavi. I mean, I\u2019ve been a big fan of India\u2019s work for a really long time. We\u2019ve been talking about it for a long time, and I\u2019m super happy today to celebrate India\u2019s work and to let the We Are Ona guests experience India\u2019s Mahdavi pop-up.<\/p>\n

the week-long pop-up is set inside a former car repair shop<\/p>\n

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DB: Was the location something that We Are Ona decided first and then invited India, or did you discuss it together?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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LP:<\/strong> What I love in this creative process is the conversation that we have along the way with India. It\u2019s pretty much carte blanche at We Are Ona. Of course, we still need to build a functional restaurant for a week, but I remember India talking to me about this idea of creating a super feminine speakeasy, where you can push a door in Paris and arrive in India\u2019s world.<\/p>\n

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India Mahdavi (IM):<\/strong> My first reaction was to notice that We Are Ona has worked with a lot of men and fewer women. I thought I had to really make sort of a rupture, a continuity within the quality, of course, but sort of a rupture with the aesthetics that were being sort of brutalist, minimalist, etc. I wanted it to be a very immersive experience. And the experience has to start from the street. So, where are you going? How do you enter? Having a bit of a surprise element.<\/p>\n

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I started working with this idea of a fabric on the theme of the rose, which was inspired by the rose of Isfahan, a city in Iran. It\u2019s a very small rose that\u2019s beautiful and that has the most incredible perfume. It\u2019s used a lot in Iran on plates and decorative arts. I just took it to a different scale and it turned into this kind of shimmery, feminine world. I say feminine because there\u2019s something very radical in that, which is usually considered strong in a way. But I felt like maybe in this environment of the art fair, it would be nice to also have this feeling of being embraced by your grandmother, in a way. So, it was me responding not only to We Are Ona, but to the event in Paris, and also to my own aesthetics. What\u2019s interesting about this experience is that you\u2019re kind of free to work with your imagination and what you want to say.<\/p>\n

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Then when I had this idea and showed it to Luca, he said, \u2018I love it.\u2019<\/em> I said, \u2018We have to find a place where we can have this element of surprise.\u2019<\/em> So, it really feels like a speakeasy. We found an old garage. Luca and his team proposed maybe five to ten spaces, and we saw which one could work and what sequences we could create around them, and then chose the one that worked best.<\/p>\n

the industrial shell contrasts with Mahdavi\u2019s delicate transformation<\/p>\n

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DB: You wanted to create a contrast between something typically seen as masculine, like a car workshop, and a much softer, more delicate atmosphere?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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IM:<\/strong> It\u2019s a carrosserie, so it\u2019s where you work on the metalwork of cars. It\u2019s an old carrosserie that had been transformed into sort of an office space, but you still have this roughness of the industrial feel of the building. The way you enter will be the surprise. But in any case, it\u2019s a contrast, having this space, which is kind of rough, completely covered in one pattern.<\/p>\n

Mahdavi\u2019s design wraps the entire interior in a bespoke textile inspired by the Rose d\u2019Ispahan<\/p>\n

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DB: Could you elaborate on the design concept, especially the all-over textile treatment, and how it contributes to the tactile and immersive quality of the space?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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IM: <\/strong>The fabric gives you a very special feel. First of all, it\u2019s a big space, and you want to absorb all the sound, so there\u2019s an idea of comfort, of course. But I\u2019ve always been interested in designing patterns for fabrics or wallpapers, and that\u2019s part of my language. I use ornament a lot in my work because I think that it\u2019s a way of really giving some kind of new identity to a space that we\u2019re modifying. It\u2019s an efficient and beautiful way of doing that.<\/p>\n

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At that moment, I was also designing a line of fabrics for this French company called Pierre Frey. So, we used that as a base, we took this fabric, scaled it right, and worked with them to produce it. It\u2019s based on the rose. It\u2019s very fresh, very familiar, because we\u2019ve all seen homes covered with floral patterns, and I\u2019m just taking it to a different level, making it a bit radical. I say it\u2019s an ode to soft power, because soft power is something subtle that does exist, but when you have it all over, it becomes very powerful.<\/p>\n

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the space becomes a tactile cocoon<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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DB: Luca, how do the dining elements and overall experience dialogue with India\u2019s design?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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LP: <\/strong>It\u2019s a total. Everything was settled with India, from the main architecture to the table design, tablecloths, plates, glasses, cutlery, and the aprons of the staff, even adding some surprises around the idea of the rose.<\/p>\n

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We also created a conversation with Jes\u00fas Dur\u00e1n, an amazing chef from Mexico that I really love. I think this will really add a lot to the experience. He\u2019s one of the most incredible emerging talents \u2014 he used to work at Pujol, and we worked on some projects in Mexico with India. So there\u2019s a nice link there.<\/p>\n

guests share a communal table<\/p>\n

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DB: The way you describe this experience, it sounds like you\u2019re focusing on positive elements \u2014 softness, happiness, warmth, and coziness. Why was it important to highlight these in this project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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IM:<\/strong> You know, we\u2019re in a world that is quite aggressive right now. We\u2019re surrounded by a future we don\u2019t know. So I think that\u2019s what it is, it\u2019s about the present moment, the past is past and the future \u2014 <\/em>we don\u2019t know. My work is always about creating memories, creating an ephemeral moment of happiness that you can take away with you. The idea of the experience is really important \u2014 we see so many images on social media that we don\u2019t know what\u2019s real anymore. The only way to know if something is real or not is to live it, to experience it yourself. So I think this multisensorial experience is super important. It\u2019s also about togetherness, because with this dining experience you\u2019ll be sitting maybe next to somebody you don\u2019t know, since it\u2019s communal tables. You\u2019ll share the same experience, which will engage conversations and encounters. All these people coming are interested in experience, in design, in food. It\u2019s all about that.<\/p>\n

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LP:<\/strong> I totally agree with India. The point on human experiences is so important because all these details have been designed to put the guests into a full culinary experience. That\u2019s something we\u2019re really proud of at We Are Ona, creating this togetherness.<\/p>\n

Dur\u00f3n\u2019s menu interacts with Mahdavi\u2019s sensory landscape<\/p>\n

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project info:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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name:<\/strong> Rose, c\u2019est la vie, We Are Ona x India Mahdavi<\/p>\n

artist: <\/strong>We Are Ona<\/a> |\u00a0@we.are.ona<\/a><\/p>\n

designer:<\/strong> India Mahdavi<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0@indiamahdavi<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

location:<\/strong> Paris, France (7th arrondissement)<\/p>\n

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chef:<\/strong> Jes\u00fas Dur\u00f3n<\/p>\n

occasion:<\/strong> Art Basel Paris 2025<\/p>\n

The post india mahdavi and we are ona on unveiling their rose-draped speakeasy for art basel paris<\/a> appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

india mahdavi and we are ona present rose, c\u2019est la vie \u00a0 Hidden behind an unmarked door in Paris\u2019 7th arrondissement, \u2018Rose, c\u2019est la vie\u2019 is an unexpected sanctuary of softness amid the intensity of … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nindia mahdavi and we are ona on unveiling their rose-draped speakeasy for art basel paris - Blog TSK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/india-mahdavi-and-we-are-ona-on-unveiling-their-rose-draped-speakeasy-for-art-basel-paris\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"india mahdavi and we are ona on unveiling their rose-draped speakeasy for art basel paris - 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