New Moscow coffee shop "Totem" (Valovaya st., 6) is dedicated to the cult drinks of the Maya Indians - coffee and cocoa. On the concrete walls, here, three-layer light-dynamic panels flicker, depicting the most important time for the ancient civilization - harvesting legumes. Every minute Maya hieroglyphs, from which the panels are made, change color. With the change of lighting, the interior is also transformed: the bright plastic of the furniture Kartell refracts and reflects the light and seems to glow. Yellow, blue, red chairs are full participants in this show, in which an intricate and diverse play of light emphasizes the brutal texture of concrete surfaces. Concrete in the "Totem" a lot. The walls, the floor, the ceiling and even some furniture are made of it. The surfaces are covered with cracks, thanks to which the walls of the house shimmer and in total darkness - the craquelure is filled with a special compound that accumulates light. Under the thick layer of nacre, gold leaf and lacquer, which decorated the bar, also hides the concrete surface. It feels surprisingly warm to the touch, because a heating system is built into the countertops. Circles and triangles (made of graphite and metal fractions) alternate here on the floor - this is an Indian counting system, in which numbers are indicated by vertical lines and geometric figures. So in the "Totem" a visitor can be warmed not only by the consciousness that he lives in the age of high technologies, but also by the fact that here he literally relies on ancient civilization.
Passing the gallery 
