Now open the doors of the creative space that brings together entrepreneurship, design and food
Six, the creative space that opens a dialogue between entrepreneurship, design and food, has opened a new location in Milan. Its winning formula lies in the synergy between the various souls that populate the space, a place conceived as a splendid home characterized by the fluidity of the spaces, organized into areas that flow into one another without interruption. Creativity is expressed here in many different forms, each complementary to the other: «Six is a container – explains the owner Mauro Orlandelli about his business model. A restaurant for business lunches by day, a design gallery, an exhibition space, a cocktail bar and gourmet restaurant by night. A place to locate and film events, a club for live music and deejay sets. The versatility of the location is our model, he continues. The multifaceted nature of the content and especially the programme of contents. A versatility reflected in our varied customers, who have only one common denominator: they seek quality, excellence, culture. Be it in cuisine, art, design, or simply beauty».
All of this is taking place at Porta Nuova, in a context that has been experiencing significant urban transformations in recent years, towards a new sustainability.
This is an area dominated by contemporary architecture which is being expressed at very high levels, with buildings designed by architects such as Stefano Boeri, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Studio Piuarch, Mario Cucinella Architects, Michele De Lucchi, Cino Zucchi, Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, to name just a few. And it is the right place for anyone interested in the themes of design, who after stopping for a break at Six, can explore the neighbourhood.
If design delights the eye, the palate is taken care of by Jacopo Calcagnile: the chef proposes a menu based on retrieving the great classics of Mediterranean cuisine with international accents. Organic ingredients, preferably seasonal, a short food chain, no waste, freshness and authenticity are the key words in his cuisine philosophy. «Our menu is traditional at heart but open. Fresh raw materials, artisanal productions and technology make it possible to offer our dishes every day with minimum waste and maximum sustainability», explains Orlandelli.
The chef has structured a lunch menu that revolves around five starters, five pastas, five entrées and four desserts. Among them are Amberjack ceviche in Breton sea urchin with Peruvian giant corn and caramelised onion, Large ravioli filled with beef cheek braised in octopus water, Cauliflower ribeye with the seven spices of Baharat with kefir and broken potatoes spiced with smoked paprika. The evening menu also includes various incursions into different culinary cultures, offering dishes such as Miso-flavoured caramelised aubergine, curried chickpea hummus, herb salad and Lobster, Kumato tomatoes, Tropea onions, herbs, lime citronette and alga dulce. Desserts you should not miss are the Champagne crème bavaroise with raspberry coulis. Sunday is brunch day, Italian style.
Creativity also rules the bar, where the bartender and mixologist Gabriele Dodi has put together a menu of ten aperitifs, between revisitations of the great classics and new drinks for a mix of flavours with great visual impact, made with innovative techniques such as sous-vide fermentation. And don’t leave without at least trying the MI (bitter, distilled burned aubergine, air of rosemary) and Apfelstrudel (gin, apple icewine, chartreuse, pine nuts, apple, cinnamon).
The scenario that contains these many rich proposals is by Francesco Rota, who designed the interiors, the outdoors, the furniture and the accessories, under the artistic direction of Samuele Savio. The spaces, where custom-made design pieces alternate with Danish design, are characterised by modular convertible pieces, and by the osmotic relationship with the outdoors made possible by ample glazed surfaces. The bar, fifteen meters long and made of lava stone, is the heart of Six: it conceals the wine cellar-tunnel made of cedar tiles designated for private events. Beside the bar is a room characterised by a sequence of islands with different heights of seating and table tops to host business lunches and dinners as well as more informal occasions. Soft warm lighting illuminates the palette of materials: wood, ceramic, stone, painted metal, brass, raw iron, metal sheeting, fabric and leather, while the floors are made with a rough cement mix framed with brass fillets. Even the outdoor spaces were designed by Rota and conceived to create a filter between the venue and the vibrant dynamics of the city.
The green area, generously built by Six, is the element that creates the connection between indoors and outdoors. Its design was entrusted to Francesca Scalise, the author of a project that extends seamlessly from indoors to outdoors. The designer has selected evergreen trees accompanied by deciduous plants, chosen for the way they change and bloom in various moments of the year. In winter, transparencies, plays of light, lacework and ramifications highlight the greenery within Six. The designer has deliberately played with out-of-scale plants that blend with the context outdoors and indoors and where everything, starting with the striking bar, is distinguished by being oversized. The outdoor green space is completed by aromatic herbs that help give continuity to the blossoming during the year.
On the cover: Six, Milan. Design: Francesco Rota. Ph. ©Federico Cedrone
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