“As a child, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and I used to draw. I dreamt of becoming a fashion designer. After all, I’ve always been a dreamer”. Xin Ge Liu is a visionary who has achieved all her desires, going beyond the imagined and the imaginary.
“I already dabbled in art and design at high school, so I thought it’d be good to delve deeper into the subject. And where better than Florence? It seemed the most logical choice”, she explains. Born in 1993 in a small town 300 kilometres north of Beijing (not far from Mongolia), she moved to Italy to attend the Polimoda fashion school in Florence.
“That’s where I studied dressmaking, sewing, embroidery and draping, as well as pattern-making techniques”. And as we know, it’s always good to learn an art, even if you set it aside – only to put it back into practice at the right time.
The Taste of Xinge
Art, fashion, style and design resurface and flourish in her restaurant called Il Gusto di Xinge, located in Viale Belfiore (in Florence’s Porta al Prato area). But much more than a name, it is a powerfully recognisable brand bolstered by the X-factor of Xin Ge, an authoritative and ethereal sphinx, determined and delicate, perceptive and down-to-earth, bold and graceful, eccentric and focused.
She is assisted by her husband Lapo Bandinelli (from Borgo San Lorenzo, in the heart of Tuscany), who manages the 150-squaremetre dining space that is suspended between metaphor and reality, metaphysics and worldliness. Designed by architecture studio B-arch, it unfolds between rigorously minimal features and an enfilade of smooth contemporary arches, which are modulated in perspective and proudly evoke age-old Chinese portals.
They echo the “G” that embodies the quest for balance and perfection, but also the endless flow of an (almost complete) circle. The letter is a central element of the restaurant’s visual identity, tailormade by communication agency Almagreal.
The Colors of Xin Ge Liu
And then there’s the palette of colours. Because an interior must be dressed, adorned and decorated. “I love black. But it depends on the moment. Sometimes I’m more into blue or pink. Then I like to mix and play with opposites. The designer I admire most is John Galliano. He transforms fashion into emotion”, says Xin Ge.
She lives in the cool neighbourhood of San Frediano, and has made a distinctive colour choice for her second “home”: orange and China blue. With a modern twist, the former recalls the brick red of Chinese lacquers, but also expresses strength, energy, warmth and love. The latter condenses and captures the electric sense of a flash, an instant, tenacity and courage. These two colours intertwine and attract each other. Like near and far, depth and levity, East and West, soft and crisp, caviar and prawn crackers, shiitake and truffles.
Fashion Meets Mixology
“Like silk or velvet. It’s a fabric that reminds me of my grandfather’s old oldstyle trousers. It’s such a beautiful material to touch”, says the restaurateur. She selected blue satin for the restaurant’s lampshades and the fabric upholstery of the seating. “I wanted my team’s uniforms to be made up of trousers and a jacket in different shades of black, with a scarf to complete the outfit. I bought 55 metres of fabric, which I then handed over to a tailor in Prato”, says the designerchef, who fuses food and fashion, fashion and food.
“So many brands have opened a restaurant. But we’d like to do something else: to recount fashion through food and food through fashion”. It’s a hypnotic combination of chopsticks and pencils, because Xin Ge first imagines a dish and then draws it. After creating a sort of mood board where sensations, vibes and inspirations converge, she sketches a pattern to be translated into flavours, tones and contrasts. She never forgets aesthetics because beauty and tantalising tastes must go hand in hand, and details are fundamental.
Continue reading on Coqtail – for fine drinkers magazine. Order your copy here
Images credits of Alberto Blasetti and Coqtail, all rights reserved
