The Power of Beauty

Refettorio Mérida is located in the city of Mérida, within the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

It was developed inside a blue and white building called Casa Santa Luisa, a historic colonial house that once belonged to the Yucatecan philanthropist Pedro Canales, an advocate for social conscience, who gifted the house to the Voluntarias Vicentinas de Yucatán AC.

Historically known as one of Naples’ main gateways, the neighbourhood of Porta Capuana has a long tradition of welcoming and restoring travellers coming from outside Naples.

Here, the Fondazione Made in Cloister acquired some of the spaces inside the ex-convent of S. Caterina a Formiello, a sixteenth-century church that had been turned into a wool mill by the Borbone family and later abandoned for 140 years.

Refettorio Ghirlandina is located in an old chapel in the historic centre of Modena.

The space of the old chapel was renovated to host the dining area, while the walls have been painted with wonderful black and white frescos realised by two young local artists, Luca Zamoc and Luca Lattuga.

Located in the crypt of the beautiful neo-classical La Madeleine church built in 1842 in the heart of Paris, Refettorio Paris offers a welcoming daily dinnertime service to people in situation of vulnerability and isolated members of the community.

Architect Nicola Delon, from Encore Heureux Architects, and designer Ramy Fischler, from RF Studio, worked to conceptualise the interior space of the crypt to its full potential.

Before opening Refettorio Felix in London, Ilse Crawford's design studio Studioilse was brought on board to design the interiors for the space.

Studioilse generated a sense of intimacy with darker paintwork and low-hanging pendant lights that would make the vast ceilings appear lower.

Other lighting is kept soft to enhance this effect, while plants bring colour and a natural element to the space. The interior incorporates a reading corner, private counselling room and film screening area, while updates to the commercial kitchen ensure it can keep up with the volume of food production needed.

To fulfill the dream of building Refettorio Gastromotiva from scratch, Vik
Muniz, the art curator, had Gustavo Cedroni of METRO Architects develop the architecture. The Campana Brothers and Maneco Quinderé designed the scenography and furniture.

The material palette is of authentic, industrial materials that are commonly found in the area, resulting in an honest, no-frills aesthetic that celebrates the essential construction elements and services. Artworks by JR and Pas Schafer are also proudly displayed in the Refettorio.

Passing under the iron gates of Refettorio Mérida, a long entrance corridor takes guests to the central part of the house, into an open-air internal garden. Inside traditional houses in Yucatán, gardens were the place where families used to grow plants that were part of their daily consumption.

The black and white frescoes painted by Luca Zamoc and Luca Lattuga on the walls of the Refettorio Ghirlandina are an example of that. They represent the legend of Saint Geminiano, saint patron of Modena.

Legend has it that in the third century, when the Huns were invading Modena, Saint Geminiano hid the town by shielding it with a dense blanket of fog and protecting them from the threat.

The frescoes are both a tribute to the history of Modena and a message of hope to guests and volunteers.

Beauty - in this case expressed in the form of music - is a universal language which can take people out of their daily experience and help them form human connections based on empathy.

The guests at Refettorio Paris can often enjoy small concerts while enjoying their meal. Pictured violinist Renaud Capucon playing at the Refettorio.

During the day, the beautiful spaces of the cloister of Santa Caterina a Formiello are used by the Fondazione Made in Cloister as a cultural centre to host exhibitions and cultural events and to celebrate the artistic and cultural assets of the local community.

Speaking of beauty and its power to unveil hidden potential, another significant project promoted by the Fondazione Made in Cloister is the Bottega Made in Cloister, which combines the vision of international artists with the tradition and manual skills of local craft artisans to create unique design objects.

By adding floating clouds to the vault of the crypt of La Madeleine, French artist JR wanted to bring light, beauty and nature to the Refettorio Paris helping to create a positive environment where beauty and art are accessible to everyone.

Places like the Refettorio Felix help us to shine light (sometimes quite literally!) on the invisible potential of everything around us, whether it's people, places, food or everyday objects.

Pictured, a lamp made by reusing old spoons by Margit Wittig, sculptor and lamp maker based in London.

"It's each of the small details adding up to make a place feel special and cared for." said Ilse Crawford, designer and creative director at StudioIlse, who curated the interior of Refettorio Felix.

This monumental door, named Porta dell'Accoglienza, was created by artist Mimmo Paladino in 2015 and it stands at the entrance of the Refettorio Ambrosiano, welcoming guests as they come in.

This door is so much more than just the main access to the Refettorio, it's a commitment by the community to always welcome those who walk through it and a promise that nobody will ever feel left out or unwelcome.

To celebrate Mexican culture and the equal right of all to beauty, Refettorio Mérida displays an artwork by artist Bosco Sodi.

Sodi is a Mexican contemporary artist known for his richly textured, vividly colored large-scale multimedia paintings and for his philanthropic efforts.

The artwork, created by French artist Prune Nourry and called “Water, Sap, Blood”, was realized for Refettorio Paris using recycled copper and it’s placed above the historic fountain in the crypt of the church of La Madeleine.

Like the clouds that decorate the ceiling and the printed bespoke carpet depicting the earth, “Water, Sap, Blood” is also a celebration of the natural world and of the intrinsic, and physical, connection that human beings have with the natural elements around them.

At Refettorio Paris, dinner is served on beautifully crafted plates designed by French artists JR and Prune Nourry in collaboration with porcelain manufacturer Bernardaud.

“Prune and I live in New York where we initiated a community of artists that holds big dinners every month. Everybody cooks, everybody brings something. The dinner table is a nerve center where we share a taste for good things, the art of living well!” - explained JR.

One of the walls of Refettorio Gastromotiva in Rio de Janeiro is decorated with pictures taken by French artist JR specifically for this project.

The people portrayed are all students of the culinary courses organized by Refettorio Gastromotiva, a tribute to a new generation of chefs who are taught to utilize food as a tool towards social inclusion.

The decorations on the Porta dell’Accoglienza by Mimmo Paladino are all symbols of things that can be shared, like bread, and are meant to inspire inclusion and togetherness welcoming anyone who sets food inside the Refettorio Ambrosiano.

Mexican writer Alberto Ruy Sanchez Lacy once called Mexican tiles a “chosen skin”, referring to the way in which tiles embellish public and private spaces across Mexico.

Handcrafted ceramic tiles are a rooted cultural heritage in Mexico, since its practice dates back to the late 16th century.

When renovating the building where Refettorio Mérida is located, we made sure to keep the original tiled floors, a way to celebrate Maxican culture and heritage and to welcome guests in a space that had the same warmth and familiarity of a family home.

“Il pane metafisico” , realized by Carlo Benvenuto and donated to the Refettorio Ambrosiano, is formed by the superimposition of two photographic shots imprinted in the same film.

Brazilian artist Vik Muniz drew Milan, The Last Supper with chocolate syrup as he looked at a reproduction of da Vinci’s Last Supper. Because chocolate is impermanent and hard to hang on a wall, he photographed the ephemeral chocolate drawing.

Displayed on one of the walls of Refettorio Gastromotiva, it’s a tribute to the Refettorio Ambrosiano in Milan, and to one of the most produced and consumed products in Brazil.