Taking up residency in Chatham Street, Prahran, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of Chapel Street, checked out by the well-known Greville Street characters and taking lead in front of the local coffee shops of Izett Street, Chatty Vespa showcases its own take on pizza, utilizes it’s small space with simplicity and Italian culture and showcases it’s brand with a quirky iconic, ‘chatty’ graphics (designed by OMG! Creative).
Working within a very small space, Studio Equator needed to maximize the area to cater for a comfortable dine-in interior. Chatty Vespa is ultimately a dine-in Pizzeria and emphasis on the take away offering. Delivering to local pizza lovers, Chatty Vespa is a quirky take on a much-loved traditional pizzeria.
The residence looks literally like, Nonna’s house. Being a small townhouse style space, the shop front oozes of character and showcases eye-catching signage. Chatty Vespa is quite simply, a take on the Italian culture of people coming together to eat and chat. The iconic female character works the Italian ‘femme fatale’ that gracefully rides off on her traditional red Vespa. Sassy.
The designers have cleverly combined the cozy outdoor seating area into the interior by using the same floor tiles as a Mediterranean outdoor booth for the more balmy days in Melbourne.
As we walk into the space, we see how the designers have utilized the space to encourage chatter, laughter and comfort, yet manage to keep
the space open. As mentioned, the charcoal and crème hexagonal ceramic floor tiles continue from the outdoor chairs throughout the interior across the floors. Enclosed in such a small space, the restaurant is still one open plan restaurant space.
Since there was lack of room in this interior, the designers chose to work with this ‘chatty’ idea and create an interior that chats to the customers. Across the exposed brick walls, speech bubbles that double as lighting boxes run across the wall with quotes you’d imagine would come out of the mouth of the Italian female character. The speech boxes created by OMG! came in handy as a great interior technique, allowing space to be saved from bulky light fittings, and again, combing that chatty conversation from one wall to the other.
Looking up, a pizza box installation covers the ceiling giving an almost pixelated effect, layered and uneven and complimenting Studio Equator’s signature ‘Lucky Beer’ pendant lights.
To finish the design, the bar is displayed with beautiful timber shelving, complimenting the tiled server and cleanly displaying the food and drinks on offer at Chatty Vespa.
Working in such minimal space with a quirky brand, Studio Equator successfully created a space that encourages chatter from wall to wall, gives a comfortable ambiance for a perfect dine-in experience and pays compliment to the red delivery Vespa’s spreading the “Chatty Vespa” icon across the streets of Prahran and surrounding.