To celebrate the 25th anniversary of leading American design magazine, Surface, Eli Peer & Jacob Peres proposed the concept of the Diner, a contemporary take on the all-American iconic restaurant.

Superstar architect, David Rockwell, envisioned the overall design and decor. The vibrant visual identity of the digital and printed collateral took its inspiration from Hollywood culture.

The location itself was an abandoned tunnel located under the Stazione Centrale dating back to World War Two. We had to bring this dilapidated cement space into a fully functioning kitchen, restaurant and event space within a few days.

The Diner, with a kitchen run by The Bulgari Hotel, was sold out in advance for lunch, dinner and late-night cocktails followed by swinging parties with over 40,000 guests attending throughout the week. SURFACE overall web traffic increased dramatically during the week, and their email sign up and interaction on social channels soared. The pop-up restaurant received praise from CNN, Dezeen, Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Designboom, Cool Hunting and many more.

The pinnacle of the week was when The Diner won the official Milan Design Award for Most Engaging Installation out of more than 2,000 installations, and was featured on CNN home page as the best installation in Salone 2018.