Time Travel: Ichi Station Milan Sushi Restaurant by Masquespacio.

Masquespacio’s peachy dreamscape for sushi restaurant Ichi Station’s Milan outpost feels akin to stepping into a fantastical train carriage. Ichi’s founder, Yango Zhang, had already developed a few spaces for his sushi takeaway chain, but for the Milano store the design duo were tasked with creating a more memorable dine-in experience.

For Masquespacio, a creative consultancy by Ana Milena Hernández Palacios and Christophe Penasse with a penchant for the vibrant, this was right in their wheelhouse.

With Ichi Station’s previous stores inspired by travel and train stations, the studio looked to build on this existing brand identity but with a more conceptual approach. While maintaining this essential essence and moving away from literal and traditional travel representations, the Spanish design studio proposed travel to the future through light.

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“With this more futuristic look we had the opportunity to represent the innovative sushi that is showcased on Ichi’s menu full of flavours and colours, developed by Yango, in collaboration with chef Haruo Ichikawa,” explains Masquespacio’s creative director Ana Hernández.

Glowing arched panels bend into the shape of a train carriage, matched with mirrored ceilings, slab banquette seating and a contemporary take on shoji screen panels. A neutral colour palette is only contrasted with a deep blue bathroom.

Located in a historical building from the beginning of the past century in the heart of Milan, the designers broke with the traditional conventions of the interior like arches and vaults, converting the space into a contemporary capsule to travel into time.

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[Images courtesy of Masquespacio. Photography by Luis Beltran.]