What distinguished Obika is its being a ‘mozzarella bar’: a new concept that comes from the Japanese sushi bar but is specialized in one of Italy’s most prized cheese products, the ‘mozzarella di bufala’. Obika’s original food influenced the way we developed the chain’s design concept. We tried to express the quality of the cuisine with an architectural design incorporating a series of glass boxes, or aquariums, to store and arrange the products. Instead of creating an iconographic atmosphere through standardized furniture and fixtures, as most chain restaurants do, we designed Obika’s identity based on a spatial concept. Architecturally, we conceived the glass volumes as three-dimensional extensions of an empty illuminated void, rather than objects that furnish the space. It is as if a light source breaks into the space and punctures the existing structure into clear light prisms.