coffee shop Lido di Venezia (St. Petersburg) Nodar Jobava

Passing the gallery

A photo: Peter Lebedev

Text: Elena Kuznetsova

Architect: Nodar Joba

Magazine: Nya (65) 2002

Latin American style has become a stereotype in the design of St. Petersburg coffee shops, vying with each other to join in the enjoyment of a fragrant drink. But architect Nodar Jabava, seeking to create an original image of a new cafe on the street. Tchaikovsky, d. 19, chose a different page from the history of the global expansion of coffee. As you know, the first European coffee houses appeared in the cities of medieval Italy, including Venice. This circumstance suggested the name for the cafe Lido di Venezia (this name belongs to one of the islands of the Venetian lagoon). In the interior design plays an important role slides, on which Venice appears in unexpected angles. Her image is created not by the textbook sights, but by random fragments snatched from the everyday life of the city: cracked facades, old billboard, gates, bronze overlays. Reflections on the Venetian "parallels" are so natural in Petersburg, which is often called the Venice of the North. Photo of the gondolier on the wall of the cafe - a hint at the "water" affinity of cities. The entrance door and the exposed brickwork restored according to historical drawings are a reminder that both St. Petersburg and Venice are monumental cities whose value lies in their authenticity. However, those visitors who, in the abbreviated name of the Lido cafe, can hear the echo of the name of the famous Parisian cabaret, are also right in their own way. Because the evening lights, a bright showcase with a picture of a Venetian woman - everything calls to join the game in the associations: Venice, St. Petersburg, Paris, coffee ...