Mercado San Cosme

Mercado San Cosme

Located in what used to be a 20th-century butcher shop on Torstraße 116 in East Berlin's Mitte neighborhood, Mercado San Cosme is a mezcal bar, and also a showroom for Mexican design.

Mercado San Cosme was born inspired by iconic elements from Mexican culture, its Modernist architecture, and its magical ancestral liquor: mezcal. This mystical, colorful and comforting atmosphere is now revisited within a new space in the German capital.

In the showroom, some of these products are displayed on a large shelf subtly placed behind a latticework that recalls the work of Mathias Goeritz, a series of simple wooden structures – in a cumbersome and brutalist way – also serve as display modules.

Further into the shop, in a small interior garden, there is a sort of sculpture/altar that displays products and objects. To its right, there is a bar where mezcal tastings take place whilst savoring Mexican bites. The bar exudes a mystical atmosphere inspired by the emotional architecture of Luis Barragán. A wall made of wooden cacti with colored thorns is used as a coat-hanger, whilst the other wall is decorated with geometric graphics and motifs.

At the end of the bar, there is a private room which is intended for tastings of the different types of artisanal mezcal on offer, and for conveying all there is to know about this drink. There is also a sitting room with a geometric tiled floor – a typical characteristic in Mexican towns and custom made furniture. The walls feature screen prints based on pre-hispanic imagery reproduced in bright colors.

Mercado San Cosme is an embassy for the mezcal and for Mexican design in general, not only in Germany but throughout Europe as well.

In collaboration with Pablo Limón & NANO 4814
Photography by Coke Bartrina
Construction Supervised by Alejandro Jimenez Baumueller