Zacaffè, Zara’s first café, clad in our terracotta tiles

Every great project must strike a balance between satisfaction and challenge. Guided by that principle, Zacaffè is one of todobarro’s standout projects—both rewarding and demanding in equal measure.

This is the first café opened by the Inditex group, located within the new Zara Man headquarters on the central Hermosilla Street in Madrid’s Salamanca neighborhood. Zacaffè offers a menu of coffee, tea, and pastries, and creates a cozy, relaxed space that expands upon the already exclusive experience provided by the adjacent Zara Man store.

The Zacaffè project was developed by Art Recherche Industrie (ARI), the design agency led by the iconic French-Moroccan artist and creator Ramdane Touhami. To cover nearly all the surfaces of the café, ARI used our fired terracotta pieces, which we designed exclusively and custom-made for this project.

Art Recherche Industrie pays tribute to neo-Mudéjar architecture with todobarro at Zacaffè

Ramdane Touhami is a French designer and publicist of Moroccan origin, renowned for his provocative spirit and creative brilliance. He has been described by the specialized press as “the Midas of Paris,” with a career marked by revitalizing historic brands and companies, especially in the cosmetics sector, though his portfolio spans a wide range of projects.

A few years ago, Touhami launched Art Recherche Industrie, a design and PR agency that upholds the artist’s principles—who believes that true luxury is “being able to work with the best artisans.” The firm stands out for its attention to detail, careful selection of materials, and holistic project approach—zero-outsourcing and managing the work from initial sketches to final completion.

For this project, ARI aimed to pay homage to neo-Mudéjar architecture, particularly to Madrid’s Casa Árabe. The Casa Árabe is a prestigious public institution that has been promoting and educating about the Arab world and culture for the past twenty years. In Madrid, it is located just under a 15-minute walk from Zacaffè, housed in the former Escuelas Aguirre—an iconic late 19th-century neo-Mudéjar building.

Paying tribute to such a symbolic landmark in an indoor space required the use—almost necessarily—of traditional materials characteristic of neo-Mudéjar architecture, such as fired clay tiles and ceramics, along with intensive use of geometric patterns and natural tones.

A custom project, tile by tile

One of the advantages of neo-craftsmanship is the immense versatility it offers, allowing us to design all the tiles used in the café exclusively and tailor-made for Zara.

Thanks to the knowledge and experience of our master artisans, we were able to work hand-in-hand with the rest of the team, designers, and interior decorators involved in the project to create a set of tiles that perfectly matched not just the space but also ARI’s vision for it.

The result is an exclusive and immersive environment, full of personality and character. Undoubtedly, it’s one of our most special projects and marks the beginning of an exciting collaboration between Zara and todobarro.