La Sirena: The Mexican Food Cartel or where Warsaw meets Mexico. A place like no other – working on it was pure pleasure. Comprehensive realization in the heart of the Polish Capital involving the interior design and full visual identity.
La Sirena is not another polite colourful coffee shop for gringos. Its ambience reminding of dangerous slums was inspired by the dark side of Mexico with its cartels and culture as presented in B movies. We tried to mirror this atmosphere by giving this place the character of a scruffy eatery where no one can feel quite safe. The place seems to have always been here: dingy walls, rusted machetes, a wall made of corrugated metal touched by time – just to name a few of the elements contributing to the atmosphere. All the accessories were meticulously selected at flea markets, found in old sheds and on online auctions both by us and by the Owners themselves, who were really involved in looking after the project.
We managed to use a great amount of the existing tissue, which constituted an exceptional value to us due to the significant age of the whole tenement house. Under the layers of linoleum that accumulated with time, we found the original flooring; we used the pre-war brick from the demolished partition wall and tiles from the old fireplace. By special order, Mexico-inspired ceramic breeze blocks were made according to our design. Illuminated with red light, they decorate the bar counter.
