After the years of the pandemic, we had all reached a certain level of distrust. The launch of the Sawerdo Bakery & Coffee project by the architectural firm BUREAU in 2022 stemmed from the fear that bringing people together around a table could become a risky occasion.
The founders of Sawerdo Bakery & Coffee dared to take a leap of hope, believing that the viruses of a neighbor too close would never hinder the warmth of being together. Instead of giving in to fear, they bet on an opposite scenario: one where proximity becomes a simple means to trigger spontaneous conversations and exchanges that surpass the fear of the "viral other".
The project by BUREAU, a studio specializing in interior design projects, has given shape and space to this "moment" of our lives, centered around a dramatic and highly tactile table. In addition to the evident references to traditional baking materials such as marble and metal shelves, the idea proved to be rather simple: a hospitable table that allows for a variety of configurations. The set represents a hybrid between domestic and professional, halfway between sharing a "table d’hôtes" and dining inside a bakery.
The image Dressing Poultry (2007) by Jeff Wall, taken on a farm near Vancouver, celebrates a moment of joy in work – preparing what will become food. With an aesthetic opposite to the Sawerdo project, this image shares the same intention: to transform the act of cooking, feeding, and sharing into a unifying aspect of life.
Like Jeff Wall's lightboxes, Sawerdo has also been fortunate to be in a very beautiful space that the project seeks to reveal in the broadest way possible: a lightbox inhabited where scenes of life take place and that will continue to be the stage for shared experiences as long as we understand ourselves to be all biological beings or "other virals".
