THE INTERIOR DESIGN

The concept created by the interior designer Judith Pottecher, have as its starting point the desire to make the Zank Hotel a priviledged entrance door and a dive into the Brazilian way of life. With this approach, the project acquired its own identity, capable of atracting the guest and teach him our asthetic concepts and way of life, getting to know the Brazilian cultural puzzle with modernity but also taking into account the history as its main engine.

"I tried to materialize an aesthetic that translated moments and some Brazilian atmospheres. A walk in time, presenting different periods, each one succeeding the other without a precise chronology or reconstitutions, but at the same time inspirations capable of transporting us though our multiple references; baroque, colonial, contemporary and "tropicalistas". A journey through our roots, observed through a light sight, unpretentious and contemporary.

In order to provide a special and unique environment to each of the 20 apartments, I then created seven "atmospheres", where every element was created or literally "mined" especially for each of these ambiances.

In the "Casarão", starting point for the project, the memory takes us successively to the colonial apartment. This is a "male space" and I inspired me in the historical city of Cachoeira and its exceptional traditional metal fences, between other elements.

The baroque apartment evokes the icon of Catarina Paraguassu. In my mind, I imagined an exuberant space which evocates the luxury 'à la française', always having as reference her time in the XVII French Court. In order to create this décor, I made a "clin d'oeil" to a much contemporary icon, the mythical and baroque Coco Chanel, inspiring myself in the glamour of her Ritz Parisian suite. I also introduced some elements of the furniture specially remodeled, some specially covered with gold, serigraphs and textures specially created to the Zank. The Casarão third and last contemporary and modern apartment reflects the value, charm, the elegancy and sobriety of the first modern Brazilian furniture.

Inserted in all this architecture, I continuously presented the inspirations, which I call "matrix/roots", the contemporary classics, the "tropicalistas", and the neo-baroques. In the matrix/roots, one of the apartments mixes some indigenous and European elements; the natural fibers and a rubi bergerè provide the tone, remarked by a pair of Chinese fans, also designed by me and prepared with gold grass.  In the second, I choose the reference that I think better illustrate the high artistic quality and Brazilian process of miscegenation, the work of the master Rubem Valentim. This apartment is an inspiration and tribute to this great abstract constructivist artist, who "drinks" from our Afro / Amerindian culture to build a new language, refined, vigorous, and truly universal. The colors and traces of this master, project itself in the space and on the furniture providing to it a contemporary elegance with a genuine Brazilian soul.

In the "tropicalistas" apartments, the furniture in fiberglass evokes the 70s, which altogether with its additional elements, translate the contesting force of the movement, expressed in the primary colors, on the solid references, in icons like Hélio Oiticica, Caetano Veloso, so I tried to bring some references of our universe pop tupiniquim in these apartments. The contemporary classics bring some examples of the Brazilian design with sobriety and cosines. The neo-baroque, as it could not be, comes to conclude this aesthetic trip, pointing with elegance and contemporarily the atmospheres of this section.      

The project as a whole, from the objects to the furniture, passing through the additional items, all are Brazilian and translate our desire to show our "arsenal" of creative competencies.

In this context, I had the special care of proposing the creation of a library / video store which main theme is the cordel literature. With its profuse and diverse repertory of approaches, incisive and always contemporary, the cordel is one of our greatest popular expressions and deserved, and, in my point of view, a relevant place. Side by side samples of cordel and illustrations of Hansen Bahia also share the scene echoing Castro Alves poem "Navio Negreiro".