MA XÓ
July 2018 - October 2020
BRANDING | INTERIOR | MARKETING
Ma Xó Cafe is a project that started back in 2018 with my friend and business partner, John Kis.
Located in the exclusive Trúc Bạch island in Hanoi, Vietnam, this small and tall 4-story building became a renowned brunch restaurant and sunset cocktail station for locals, expats, and tourists alike. From the music you will hear at Ma Xó, to the furniture, gourmet ingredients, or the rotational art exhibitions on its walls, everything at Ma Xó has been carefully curated to create an overall experience that keeps pleasing customers to this date.
If you are ever in Hanoi, don't hesitate to enjoy the beautiful sunsets over the lake or the amazing brunch options with a side of Bloody Mary.
In the next photos you will see how with care and a lot of work, this wishful idea became a reality.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
- Doing market research, determining the target customer, developing the concept, and creating the brand and interior design proposal.
- Recruiting and managing a 10-person team to execute the interior design project for five months while facing cultural and language barriers.
- Building all online presence and marketing campaigns; achieving 4.6 stars on Google Reviews and 4.2K followers on the Facebook page.
B R A N D I N G
The name has a double meaning in Vietnamese: a ma xó can either be the frightening yet protective ghost that lives in old houses or a very savvy person that knows how to move around the city using all it's alleys to reach hidden gems.
Inspired by Chinese and Japanese calligraphy this brand evokes old Vietnamese cafes hidden in Hanoi's typical small and dark alleys. Concepts like bohemian, old, handmade and unique were the base for the brand, and it has a profound reminiscence of Tokyo and Kyoto's small wooden diners and bars or the Chinese old town in Georgetown, Malaysia.
To follow this traditional style, only Chinese ink and calligraphy brush were used in it's creation.
I N T E R I O R
This unique, old, tall, and very thin building has an incredible location overlooking Truc Bach lake, 20 min by foot from the touristy & bustling Old Quarter, and another 20min to the north you'll find Tay Ho, the expat and wealthy part of town.
This island wasn't always an island, it was detonated off the shore back in the day when this part of the city was dedicated to bronze smelting. Nowadays, there is only one person left on the island from the 500-year-old bronze smelting tradition, but he doesn't do it anymore.
As a way to pay tribute to what the island used to be, we decided to carve an epoxy-bronzed river onto the concrete floor, mimicking some sort of bronze river that flows into the lake... It was John's idea. I told him he was crazy. And then we went and did it anyway.
The first story has the kitchen, the bar, 1 bathroom, and a couple of high platforms that we designed to create more seating areas. If you're feeling like climbing, get on the platforms.
The second story is our storage area, the third floor hosts the Fermented Bakery, which specializes in things fermented like sourdough and kombucha. You get to try their bread served with the breakfast dishes downstairs.
Finally, after many traditionally steep steps, you get to... The Rooftop. One of the most secluded and cozy spots to watch the sunset over the lake. It is known among the locals that on this rooftop brunches turn into lunches and slowly then into afternoon cocktails and before you know it is night time and you've spent your productive Monday chatting with good friends and slightly inebriated.
Pretty much all the woodwork in this place was made by our carpenter Thanh, which includes a lot of the furniture, designed specifically for each corner of this house full of corners.
I almost forgot to mention the outside tiny little bamboo tables on the footpath overlooking the lake, dogs, kids, motorbikes, fishermen, fruit and flower ladies, and life in general...
P R O C E S S
How did we do it? Slowly and carefully, while making a lot of mistakes, and with a lot of help from great people. It was one of the most enriching experiences of my life with so much learning about interior design, construction, business, and food, but also human interactions, intuition, and most dearly Vietnamese culture.
Here you can see a little bit of the process and some of the faces that helped us make it true.
MARKETING
Marketing campaigns and social media content were created to promote our business.
