YAKINIKU RIKYU. MADRID. ESPAÑA
31
We question everything, why each day a project
of ours must continue and how it will evolve
over time. Aspects such as the life cycle of
the project, the impact it has on the environment
and whether it will continue to provide a
quality service to the user for many years; are
currently the main concerns of our study.
This commitment is clearly materialized in our
latest projects. The last restaurant we built
was in the Galeria Canalejas, recently opened
in the centre of Madrid, and we have chosen
to make the most of the existing architecture
and elements, transforming aspects that were
a disadvantage. Like all roof installations, a
fundamental part of our project is a reduced
consumption of resources.
This alternative space that we have created on
the roof of the premises allows everything else
to be financed on a very tight budget, where
each material has been selected by always assessing
how to get the best out of it by combining
it with others. Hence, in our projects it is
difficult to see more than three different materials
being used to create the entire space.
Although this seems very simple to understand,
is not at all easy to apply. In fact, in
many cases it is difficult for us to convince the
client of the importance of working with an
economy that saves resources and that is responsible
towards our planet, beyond the marketing
that today surrounds everything that is
supposedly and wrongly called “sustainable”.
Within the scope of the product, we work under
the same parameters. We focus on creating
objects and furniture that really let us understand
that what is necessary and what provides
value far beyond aesthetics. On many occasions,
a proportion, the decontextualization
of a material, or the use of a more ecological
technology achieve a better result than the
previous one and are more than enough reasons
for us to bet on it, without ever forgetting
how essential it is that these objects should be
beautiful, that they are full of poetry and that
they enrich our spirit when using them; and at
the same time give us impeccable service. It is
this binomial beauty/service approach of our
studio where we find the balance that makes
us go to work every day with the same enthusiasm,
for almost 27 years.
In short, we believe that we should be much
more honest within our profession, that we
should feel that we have as much responsibility
as a doctor who operates in an operating
room every day, assuming that, in the event of
an error, we are condemning many people to
live in places that complicate their lives, and
use objects that do not respond to their needs
or to the demands of an increasingly depleted
planet.