Oh how I would love to enjoy a dinner out on the town again, and to transport myself to Vancouver and this fabulously designed tapas bar & restaurant. Como Taperia is a nod to the classic, centuries-old, standing-room-only tapas bars in Barcelona’s Poble Sec or Madrid’s La Latina quarters. These spaces are tight, acoustics are loud and you may or may not be offered a place to sit, favouring conversation and community over intimacy and comfort. Our access point to the materiality and colour strategy came from one particular reference, Jardins de les 3 Xemeneies, and its three brick chimneys that backdrop the bustling Poble Sec–the only remains of an early 20th century power station built by the Barcelona Traction, Power and Light Company ( a Canadian utility company that operated light and power utilities in Catalonia, Spain) locally known as La Canadiense for the old company’s Canadian electricity production. Opening a tapas bar in Canada, this history acted as a leeway into exploring the vernacular of this neighbourhood, allowing Como to become a contemporary materialization–an homage to all we love about Spain. The rest was an exercise in keeping things simple and fun and letting a few other cool points of inspiration stand out against this backdrop like the punches of cobalt blue reminiscent of Miro and the art program taking Jean Arp’s work as a point of departure. Designed by Ste. Marie.

Photography by Conrad Brown
Styling by Kate Richard