Mercato at Three on the Bund | Graphics

Situated within the prestigious Three on the Bund, Mercato is renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s newest culinary destination in Shanghai, the first of which to serve up an upscale yet rustic Italian fare. Neri & Hu’s design for the 1,000 square meter restaurant draws not only from the chef’s culinary vision but also from the rich historical context of its locale, harkening to early 1900s Shanghai, when the Bund was a bustling industrial hub.

The logo and environmental signage takes its cue from the architectural concept with the use of a slab serif typeface. Irma Slab in particular, with its blunt serif terminal, was selected to work cohesively with the angular metal details that surround the space.

Along the surrounding restaurant wall, the history of the Bund’s industrial past is subtly referenced with technical illustrations of ship parts and machinery. The glass-clad hallway between the kitchen and dining area is covered with old Italian storefront and food packaging graphics as if traversing through a real Italian mercato (marketplace).

Guided by the restaurant name and informal, open seating arrangements, the menus were designed to reflect this atmosphere where the printed materials are attached to wooden boards with laser etched logo in the back referencing the wooden crates from marketplaces with stamped logos.