The first thing you see when you come to China Ma restaurant is a huge face of an asian girl, who constantly shifts her emotions. One moment she looks surprised, and then she is fascinated to see newcomers or smiles shyly. These are real character’s emotions, which are broadcasted on the large rounded LED screen. It is hard to turn your eyes off this media sculpture, but you can get even a better view from the small glass bridge that links two halls on the first floor of the restaurant.
China Ma with a name derived from ‘china mania’ is a modern Chinese restaurant, located at the «Terminal Food» Shopping Center in Kyiv. The restaurant's cuisine is Cantonese, which brings together the best dishes from eight contemporary Chinese cuisines, combined with a collection of 25 rare varieties of tea. The idea of the venue is to immerse guests in the lively atmosphere of Chinese streets with their beaming lights and various emotions.
Crucial decorative elements in the space are black bunched wires hung up in all restaurant halls. These wires have tiny LED lamps on their ends. Their light is not enough to light up the table, but they are like charming sparks.
Other dynamic installations in China Ma restaurant also relate the space to the lively streets of Chinese cities. One of them is the long tube, which is located on the ground floor below the ceiling and goes through the whole space into the street next to the restaurant’s entrance. It makes an unusual element of the restaurant’s frontage and attracts visitors to come inside. The other panel with a dynamic inscription pattern on it is installed in the bathroom.
– Travels to Asian countries make me feel that modern China is chaos and order at the same time. High technologies go there along with bunched black telecom wires on the streets. Deep cultural traditions somehow coexist with unstoppable rush of life – tells Dmitro Binesko, creative director of Yod Design Lab.
