Unveiling latest projects by Lagranja Design in Istanbul

Multidisciplinary design studio Lagranja Design, which has offices in Istanbul, has been stepping up its projects in Turkey, designing new offices for Japan Tobacco International and a second  ThePopulist beer bar in the Bebek neighbourhood.

The multinational Japan Tobacco International chose the Spanish design studio to reorganise their Istanbul offices, which had become somewhat chaotic and impersonal. Lagranja Design set out to create a cosier atmosphere for employees, adopting a series of working guidelines: introducing a different colour palette for each floor, based on tobacco leaves and the various shades they acquire during the drying process, from dark green to orange and ochre. Given the company’s origins, they have subtly integrated elements from Japanese culture, such as natural wooden screens to separate office spaces. Finally, they opted for a series of “Smoking Hands” images by photographer Elena Claverol, to give the corporate space that personal touch. The Barcelona-based studio went for an ad hoc design for office tables to accommodate workstations.

Also this year, Lagranja Design have designed a second “Populist” bar, in the elegant Bebek neighbourhood. Two years ago, they undertook the ambitious task of converting Turkey’s first brewery into a modern beer bar inspired by the graphic language of the Prohibition. The result was “The Populist”, in the Bomonti part of the city, hailed by “Time Out” as the best place to hang out in the Turkish capital. For the first Populist bar, the studio went for an industrial look with beer vats. The new project reflects a more refined and dreamy feel, in keeping with the local neighbourhood. The new Beer Dream Machine is a ceiling-mounted sculpture which provides lighting for the premises and simulates a brewery production line.
 
Other recent work by the studio, founded in 2002 by Gabriele Schiavon and Gerard Sanmartí, includes refurbishment of the historic Terramar Hotel in Sitges (Spain).