Fares Dagher Lighting Design

01

Matto

Year
2018
Location
Dbayeh, Lebanon
Type
Commercial / Restaurant
Area
850 m²
Client
Addmind Group
Designer
Suzy Nasr
Matto in the evening: black-metal pendants glow above the dining tables, with the open kitchen behind glazing on the left and the Matto sign and wine cabinets on the right.

A home-grown brand built on classic Italian food with a side of mischief, Matto sets out to recast the archetypal Italian dining experience. The interior is designed in industrial materials: concrete finishes, black metal, and natural wood. On the outdoor terrace, the colour palette is in harmony with Adjaye's Aishti Mall façade, and wine-bottle candles distributed around the restaurant give its corners a sense of intimacy.

The dining room by day: round timber tables, custom linear suspensions with black and red shades, and a large painted mural of a laughing woman in blue gloves.

Lighting approach

The lighting needed to reflect the Italian feel of the restaurant, the industrial materials of the interior, and the madness that the name holds. The result is an eclectic but consistent custom-made solution: black metal structures and exposed wires, with small notes of red.

Oversized metal-shade appliqués on the walls became a defining feature. Mirrored on both sides of the main columns along the glass façade, they connect the interior with the outdoor terrace.

A custom linear suspension in black metal with a single red shade, casting soft pools of light onto the concrete wall behind.
The mural wall at night, washed by overlapping pools of light, with a linear suspension and candlelit tables below.
The back bar at night: a grid of metal rods holding wine bottles, with red wax-covered candle bottles in the foreground.

The bar

The back bar is made of metal rods connected in a grid. It creates a sense of transparency between the dining area and the service hallway, so the lighting around the bar had to be subtle and soft enough not to obstruct that visual translucency.

Hand sketch of ceiling spotlights aimed at a mural and two oversized wall appliqués, with a standing figure for scale.
Sketch of the spotlights on the mural wall and the oversized wall appliqués.

Between kitchen and bar

The restaurant sits between the open kitchen and the bar, which break the linearity of the space into smaller corners. The lighting language had to remain consistent throughout, while giving each corner a distinct identity suited to its function.