We went to Moebius a few days ago, and to welcome us there was Lorenzo, 2 meters of Sienese doc and a big smile. In spite of the location that can give you a certain sense of disorientation, it put us at ease and made us feel part of something new, to be discovered.
Hi Lorenzo, thanks first of all for your welcome and availability. You are very young and you are carrying out a project with different shades.
I think I was very lucky in this respect. I followed in the footsteps of my father who has had a restaurant in Siena for 36 years. I feel a bit like the dwarves on the shoulders of giants. The family business experience allowed me to see the outcome of my project in perspective.
I have lived in Milan since 2012, I graduated in law, and during a study experience in Hong Kong I came into contact with, so to speak, multifaceted, multipurpose catering businesses with very heterogeneous cultural identities.
The recipe in my head was simple: combining two types of catering, one a little simpler, easy to use, aimed at stimulating conviviality; the other higher, with meticulous attention to detail. All accompanied by the vibrant notes of live jazz and cocktails that would make your taste buds dance and encourage you to discover another side of the place's character. And why not, a niche where to buy vinyls.
Upon entering your restaurant, the first feeling was disorientation.
Those who decide to enter Moebius must have the sensation of feeling part of something, not as a mere recipient of a message, but as an active user. A mutual exchange of contents, ideas, sensations. At first they all experience this feeling of confusion, of disorientation. Slowly my story of the project first and the environment that surrounds them later, allow him to understand that this is a place tailor-made for them, regardless of social status.
Moebius ... what is the exact pronunciation?
I chose this name, although aware of the fact that it would have created a certain confusion, such as "how will it ever be pronounced?", To pay homage to the one who was the master of comics, Jean Giraud, aka Moebius. A precursor of the science fiction movement, of the dream comics linked to the subconscious "which has always intrigued me".
I wanted to communicate my message as it was born in my subconscious, and the name Moebius seemed to me the right vehicle to introduce it to the public.
And that mammoth olive tree, facing the kitchen?
A couple of years ago, when I first entered this completely abandoned building, I noticed a huge crack in the roof. My first thought, perhaps stimulated by a cinematic memory, was that at that point I had to have a plant at all costs, it gave me a sense of romance, especially imagining the raindrops on the glass that would have surrounded it.
So, by chance, wandering around the nurseries, we set our gaze on these mammoth trees on the side of the road in Montecatini Terme. I was with my father, we were captivated by their beauty and we decided to ask for information.
And here we are, with this centuries-old olive tree that they told us comes from Andalusia.
What reaction did you expect from those who set foot in the club?
Surely, as we said before, a feeling of disorientation, failing to identify the type of place in which they were located.
But the best part was that one of my goals was met. The long central table for the Tapas-Bistrot inevitably led people who did not know each other to have a chat and to continue it over a cocktail of our design. Generating those interactions that are stimulating for the customer, but also for us.
There are no social groups when one sits at the same table. Everyone is stimulated by the diners who sit next to him, in a sort of speed date designed to create conviviality.
Every night, different people show me that what I had idealized in my head is happening day by day. And the ordinary turns into the extraordinary.