dessert-shaped sculptures in marble and wood ornament ice cream shop in argentina

Foguel Studio turns ice cream shop into sculptural setting

In Tandil, Argentina, Foguel Studio transforms an ice cream shop into a temple of fantasy, where marble turns to cream, cones to columns, and childhood wonder becomes architecture. For the Figlio ice cream shop, Foguel Studio conceives a space that ventures far from traditional architecture. The project unfolds as an artistic statement, one that drifts among drama, romanticism, irreverence, exaggeration, and irony. While architectural in function, the project’s spirit is sculptural.

Foguel, an industrial designer and artist trained in scenography and costume design, brings a theatrical sensibility to the space, where materials and symbols play equally important roles. The interior combines marble ‘cream’ moldings and capitals, solid-wood ‘cone’ tables, resin ‘cocoa flowers,’ and cement ‘bonbons,’ along with vases showcasing 3D printed reliefs that reinterpret each ice cream flavor.

Figlio ice cream shop’s interiors resemble sweet treats

At the heart of the space, a seven-meter hybrid effigy revisits Greco-Roman masterpieces through a contemporary, ironic lens. This ornamental excess, rich in intertextuality, evokes references to Michelangelo, the Colossus of Rhodes, and Sorrentino’s ‘The Great Beauty,’ all while dialoguing with postmodernism and its unapologetic motto: ‘Less is boring.’ The result is both commercial and monumental, a dreamlike temple where state-of-the-art screens, raw stone claddings, marble sculptures, and even tiramisu textures coexist. Foguel, founder of the Buenos Aires-based studio, has recently received awards for her ephemeral works in ice. With Figlio, she turns into stone what usually melts away. The project ultimately celebrates architecture as fiction, a playful, instinctive, and intellectual operation that transforms fantasy into form.

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project info:

name: Figlio By Foguel
design and art direction: Foguel Studio | @foguelfoguel

location: Tandil, Argentina

Foguel Studio collaborators: Josefina Barbero, Tomás Cetkovich, Camila Cioffi, Mariano Hernandez

on-site construction direction: Sanchez Belloni Arquitectos

original sculpture modeling: Mili Poy, Caro Kindsvater

3D models: Inchausti, Felipe Batemateco

graphic design: Ufficio

uniform design: Honoré Japón

curtain weaving: Priscila Estrada

stone modeling and column installation: La Cantera de Tandil

art finish: Guadalupe Quiroga, Gerard de Mendonça and team: Liliana Cotta and Florencia Mathiasen

3D scan: Grego Neumann, Hexagon Creations

AI artist in-store videos: Marcos Montané

photographers: Dagurke | @dagurke, Felix Niikado, MaikoFPV | @maikofpv