JALEO RESTAURANT IN WASHINGTON

Jaleo is the Washington restaurant of world-renowned Spanish chef José Andrés. Jaleo is a Spanish word meaning fun, commotion and hustle and bustle, and has nice, positive connotations. Such adjectives can also be applied to the interior design of this restaurant, dreamt up by Barcelona-based architecture studio Capella García.

The venue’s interior is inspired by the typically Spanish food, tapas. A related word is ‘tapeo’, which consists of lots of small mouthfuls, is cleverly mirrored by the small nooks also found here. One, in the entrance, is very casual; another more formal one features traditional, reserved tables, and a third, more relaxed one, is designed for eating at the bar.

According to Juli Capella, one of the project’s designers, ‘We wanted to create an environment that’s nice, sociable, welcoming – as Spanish people are – and brimming with colour and daring shapes, with touches of craziness and irony and a dash of Mediterranean surrealism.’

All the furniture used was created by some of Spain’s most talented contemporary designers and manufactured by Spanish companies. These pieces are innovative and of the moment, and demonstrate the mix in Spain of rich of craftsmanship and more cutting-edge mass-produced design.

Notable among these pieces are Javier Mariscal’s Green chairs for Mobles 114, RS’s football tables, Patricia Urquiola’s Nub chairs for Andreu World, Estadi Hac’s Tea chairs for Sancal, the highly original Vespa Cavallet stool designed by Emiliana Design Studio, armchairs, benches and tables created by Francesc Rifé for Ziru and Lottus stools in the bar area, dreamt up Lievore Altherr Molina and made by Enea.

As for its lighting, the restaurant boasts Marti Guixé’s Booklamp light made by Luján y Sicilia, Jordi Vilardell’s Slim pendant lights for Vibia and, in the entrance, the spectacular Agatha Lamp, designed by Luis Eslava for LZF.

The floor was designed by Capella García Architects and features a design of coloured tears reproduced with the help of hydraulic tiles (meaning the tile’s pigment is hydraulically pressed into its surface), a century-old technique connected to traditional mosaics, which, on this occasion, has been fabricated by Huguet, a company in Mallorca.

An undulating bench has been placed in the bar area, while the top of the bar is made of the quartz-derived material, Silestone in a shade called Toffee. One wall to the side and part of the ceiling are decorated with hexagonal acoustic panels from Sancal’s Tea product range.

Several artworks by Spanish artists are also to be found here, such as a bull’s head covered with a mask, a piece by Mikel Urmeneta, owner of the Spanish homeware shop Klukuxumuxu.

And finally, the company Kriskadecor supplied some curtains inspired by traditional ones found in Spanish villages.

Jaleo definitively represents a slice of the Spanish lifestyle in Washington. It’s a place to taste the best tapas and experience the best contemporary Spanish interior design.