Fede Cocktail Lab: the contemporary alchemy of Studio Benaim in the heart of Florence

In the very heart of Florence’s historic center, within the centuries-old walls of Hotel Balestri, a place is born where mixology becomes both a stage art and a living laboratory: Fede Cocktail Lab. A project by Studio Benaim that merges tradition and innovation into a sensory experience meant to surprise, provoke, and seduce.

More than a bar, it is a space for research and creation, open to the visitor’s gaze. The nine-metre-long counter takes center stage: carved oak shaped like rippling fabric, crowned by Bardiglio Nuvolato which, elevated to the dignity of a noble stone, curves with organic ease, inviting closeness and dialogue. Above it, a cloud of burnished brass floats as both sculpture and light, its glow shifting with the passing hours.

The project, led by Oscar Benaim alongside Giulio Fratini —who dedicates the space to the memory of Fede Annunziata Wittum Balestri, a pioneer in women’s emancipation— was conceived as a place in constant transformation: from the morning flow to the evening retreat, and into the bustle of the night. Each moment finds its own atmosphere here.

The aesthetic draws from the early years of the twentieth century, reinterpreted through classical materials used in unexpected ways. The laboratory, visible behind a glass wall inspired by the workshops of the 1940s, narrates the alchemy of the cocktail: from raw stone to the perfect blend. Sculpted Bardiglio, oak, brass, and multiplied reflections compose a scenography that invites both seeing and being seen.

At Fede Cocktail Lab, the visitor is not a passive spectator, but an active part of a narrative that challenges individualism to celebrate connection. A collective work in which hospitality meets craftsmanship, and surprise becomes a language. As Benaim himself notes: “Some projects are born as true adventures. From the beginning you know you are shaping something unprecedented.”

Project: Fede Cocktail Lab.

Location: Florencia (Italia).

Interior design: Studio Benaim.
Completed: 2025.
Photography: Alessandro Moggi.
Source: Studio Benaim y Mediatike.

Studio Benaim

In Florence, Studio Benaim emerges as a sanctuary of architectural creation, founded by the visionary André Benaim, who brought with him the heritage of his training and a profound sensitivity towards the heritage of his adopted city.

The studio is composed of a group of talented young architects under André’s coordination, fostering a dialogue between youth, tradition, and modernity. Its philosophy is nourished by both rigour and poetry: “we know how to be romantic and rigorous,” as they themselves declare.

The work of Studio Benaim is defined by a deep commitment to the history and the Florentine environment, capable of reinterpreting spaces steeped in memory with a contemporary gaze free from excess. This is the case of Villa Bellosguardo, in the hills of Florence: the studio has restored and harmonised a fragmented building by incorporating a clean language of Mediterranean geometries, and integrating sustainable strategies such as thermal insulation, solar-control glazing, and efficient envelopes.

Their dedication to restoration and mindful transformation is also evident in projects like the welcoming Fattoria di Capezzana, where an old farmhouse becomes an agritourism structure that remains sensitive to its historic surroundings.

In every intervention, Studio Benaim reveals an essential quality: a balance between respect and reinvention. Their architecture invites a dialogue in whispers—history exists, modernity appears, and the space breathes.

Project by Studio Benaim