Hasta La Ideas

Savory Native American-made buffalo snack bars

After our camping kick last month we’ve had an eye out for great snacks that would work just as well in the outdoors as they do in the office. Achieving just that is the Tanka Bar, a meat-based snack high in protein and low in calories. This unconventional bar is sustainably made by Native American producers in South Dakota using 100% natural prairie-raised buffalo, cranberries and a very short list of natural flavors for seasoning.

The hearty bars are subtly accented by whole cranberries, which add a subtle sweetness and counterpunch to the meat. Fortunately, the cranberries are not overpowering or overly sweet. The one ounce bars have only 70 calories and a shelf life of one year, and they’re available in traditional and a spicy pepper blend—which we prefer. Pick up a bar for around $2.50 at your local store or buy in bulk from Tanka directly.

A house once occupied by Mexican communist party founder M. N. Roy has been converted into a nightclub by French architects Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy.

The private club, located in a run-down terrace in the Roma district of Mexico City, is named M.N.ROY in honour of its famous former resident.

The outside of the house is left completely unaltered, concealing the nightclub where a textured timber pyramid envelops a double-height dance floor and DJ booth.

Rough timber blocks and glistening copper tiles cover the walls of other rooms, which are filled with wooden and leather furniture.

Corridor walls are clad with black basalt tiles that are dramatically lit from below to accentuate patterns carved into their surfaces.

Behind the pyramid, black walls gradually step inwards to surround a dimly lit bar.

Clubbers overlook the dance floor from a glass-fronted mezzanine.

More stories about bars and nightclubs on Dezeen »

More stories about projects in Mexico on Dezeen »

Photography is by Ramiro Chaves.

Here are some more details from Godefroy:

M.N.ROY club in Mexico City

Chic By Accident from the Franco Mexican architect Emmanuel Picault together with the French architect Ludwig Godefroy just completed a private club in Mexico City, called M.N.ROY.

What s M.N.ROY ?

M.N.ROY is a project made as an open question, the one has for goal not to answer obviously what’s actually the M.N.ROY.

In this way, the place can be perceived as an anti-project of what could be the commission of a private club in Mexico City, an more precisely in its Roma neighborhood.

In fact Roma has been very important in the definition of the architectural identity of this space, located in a very dueling neighborhood, and responding on one hand to its past, the one of the high mexican bourgeoisie of Porfirio Diaz (Mexican dictator 1876 – 1911) time which abandoned the neighborhood after the 1985 earthquake; and the today’s reality of a trendy urban area that Roma became.

The club is the expression a high singular personality settling in the strong left over of its past time.

According to this, where normally the renovation of the facade appears to be the starting point, the opposite was done: letting the facade untouched to increase the rupture between the original meaning of the house and the redefinition of it.

We kept the house as a testimony of what it was, the house where Manabendra Nath Roy founded the first clandestine Mexican communist party.

By not touching the facade we made paradoxically appealing the building from outside, stimulating the curiosity of the people passing by and seeing a large queue trying to enter an almost ruin house.

Once inside, we made another step in a schizophrenic architectural way, introducing a new language, deeply belonging to the mexican culture, and nevertheless completely stranger to the Porfirio Diaz architecture time.

We used a pre-hispanic language reminiscence inside, in a participative way and not contemplative as could be a nostalgic neo pre-hispanic vision of it, introducing new materials (copper, leather, wood, volcanic stone), geometries (puuc art, maya arch, pyramids), and everything, down impressive generous volumes.

M.N.ROY is the impossible mix of cultures, volumes, architectural styles, making possible an improbable modern space of melting pot.

Architects: Emmanuel Picault / Ludwig Godefroy

Creative team: Rodrigo Madrazo / Marco Margain / Claudio Margain / Rodrigo Diaz Frances / Paolo Montiel / Leon Larregui / Emmanuel Picault / Ludwig Godefroy

Industrial design: Laila salomon / Emmanuel Picault / Ludwig Godefroy

Administration: Roberto Ayala

Construction: Aaron Yepez / Jose Luis Madrigal / Carlos Tapia / Base por altura / Alonzo Mungia / Carlos Cortes / Jose Luis Iturbe / Rigoberto Martinez

See also:

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Primewine Bar by Sandellsandberg	26 Lounge Bar by Cor	Maison Du Champagne by Lin, Bolchover and Carlow

The “behind the scenes” aesthetic of the Mondrian SoHo’s Mister H lounge reveals a hot spot for locally-sourced design

In sharp contrast to the Mondrian SoHo‘s pronounced “La Belle et la Bête” theme is the hotel’s swanky bar and lounge, Mister H. While the rest of the Benjamin Noriega Ortiz-designed, 270-room hotel lends itself to French trim, Mister H has a decidedly Chinatown glow, with a “behind the scenes” ambiance conceived by Armin Amiri—the man behind exclusive NYC hot spots like Socialista and Bungalow 8.

The buzz surrounding Mister H would imply it’s merely the latest place for models and celebs to stylishly sip a cocktail, but design nerds and die-hard New Yorkers also have reason to pay visit. Director of Design for Morgans Hotel Group, Heather Maloney explains the bar is actually a display of local creativity, with most of the materials and props sourced from around New York, beginning with the “this is not a brothel” neon sign. Created by Chinatown lighting specialist Let There Be Neon, the sign is a recreation of a small metal plaque adorning the exterior of a now-defunct brothel in the neighborhood. Maloney says she found the image while doing a Google search for things relating to brothels, and it spawned the bar’s overall design aesthetic.

The local groove continues throughout the petite space, with a teal and white checkerboard floor, a DJ booth and the front of the bar all hand painted by F.W. Schmitz out of Long Island. Large, second-hand authentic Persian rugs were obtained from Paul De Beer, a retired Dutch engineer living on the Upper East Side. Reportedly flying to Iran twice a year to find the vintage carpets, De Beer sells his stock on Craiglist.

The design team also commissioned original paintings by NYC-based artist Gregory de la Haba, which combine Chinese astrology’s “Year of the Rabbit” with an “Alice In Wonderland” whimsy.

Hanging behind the gauze curtains on the wall opposing the bar is another Let There Be Neon sign, written in Chinese and translating to “Happy Drunk Love.” Maloney explains they chose these three words because they wanted to maintain a relaxed atmosphere but also “wanted to say something upbeat that reflected that Chinatown flavor.”

Hanging in each of the two bathrooms are gorgeous chandeliers Maloney found on Etsy, which are handcrafted by Studio Jota out of the Bronx. She says she chose them for their muted tones, explaining it’s hard to find a chandelier that doesn’t use a lot crystal. The beaded fixtures illuminate the intricately patterned, hand-screened wallpaper by Brooklyn’s Flavor Paper studio. The two styles—”Sassy Toile” and “Celestial Dragon”—are in custom colors chosen by the collaborative Mister H design team.

Behind a beaded curtain by Spanish brand Daisy Cake is a tucked away (and most likely VIP) area, that hosts a long cushioned couch and walls bedecked with original photos of classic film noir stars, sourced around eBay and housed in an assortment of random frames.

The lounge is accented by shiny red lanterns designed by NYC-based couture lighting specialist Abyu, which mimic the shape of the quintessential hat worn by working men in China. Adding to the “love nest” feeling is a beautiful bird cage from Barreveld International, an upstate New York outfit that sells vintage pieces to the retail industry.

While many establishments keep their sources a secret, Maloney explains the Morgans Hotel Group likes to promote and show appreciation for people who do their job well and deserve recognition. Mister H officially opens today, and will will be open regularly Tuesday through Saturday from 10pm to 4am.

Rooms at the new Mondrian SoHo hotel start at $309 per night for a Superior room and can be booked online. See more images of Mister H in the gallery below.

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Transforming the Velvet Speakeasy in Montreal’s Old Port into a candlelit temple of worship embellished with gold walls and paintings, Kevin Ledo‘s mash-ups of religious imagery and fashion photography (previously covered here when it premiered in 2008) launches the first in a series of events christened “Velvet Renaissance.” Featuring work from the local artist’s series “The Guiding Light,” Ledo draws parallels between luxury fashion institutions and the symbolic worship of Medieval religious authorities with works bearing such tongue-in-cheek titles as “The Grace of Saint Calvin Klein,” “The Fall of Saint Prada” and “Saint Alberta Ferretti of Milan.”

Yesterday’s opening night turned the space into a multi-sensory experience with DJ Milton Clark lending eerie ambiance to Ledo’s works.

A monthly event, Velvet Renaissance invites a selected artist to showcase their craft using the Velvet Speakeasy as a canvas. The title of the event implies an underlying theme arts that echo that of the Italian Renaissance.

Not just limited to fine art, the line-up will also include graphic and fashion designers, as well as tattoo and audio artists. Following Ledo’s show, local designer Jean-François Proulx will unveil the “Velvet Book,” a quarterly publication and calendar, as well as the new Velvet graphic identity. The exhibit runs through 18 April 2010.