CdM
    Aldo Gigli

    Aldo Gigli · Co-founder of the Mirano Continental · set designer and graphic artist

    Today

    Aldo Gigli is now over eighty. He has kept all his intellectual sharpness and the energy of a sixty-year-old. Carl De Moncharline still sees him regularly: a charming, kind man, always listening, whose imagination never needed any machine.

    He never sought the spotlight: it was for the room, for the posters, for other people. That is probably why his name travels less than his images, even though a whole side of the Brussels nightlife imagination came off his drawing table.

    Today, his imagination continues to take shape on the Costa del Sol. At Monkey Club Marbella, Aldo has just created a lush, hand-painted decor in which warm colours and botanical forms transform the venue. A contemporary creation that carries on, far from Brussels, what he has always known how to do: give a space its own story.

    Source: Instagram · Monkey Club Marbella →

    Photo album: the decor created by Aldo Gigli for Monkey Club Marbella. Click the picture to browse the album.

    The façade and its plants
    Late afternoon on the white façade: the wrought-iron sign, the large blue-green windows and a hedge of potted plants by the door. Behind the glass, the painted jungle is already catching the blue evening lights.
    The illuminated sign at night
    At night, the turquoise mandrill lights up amid the flowers: outside, the illuminated sign answers the colours of the room. On the left, the glass bays reveal tables laid beneath the large domes of light.
    The room, full set
    Overall view of the room: the red and pink mural wraps around the walls and mirrors, painted tigers watch over the banquettes, pink-fringed pendant lamps hang above the dark marble tables. Aldo Gigli's set here becomes the stage for a fashion image.
    Detail: the mural close up
    The detail tells the craft: leaves cut out with the brush, gradations of orange and pink, whites left bare to carry the light. In the foreground, a cut-crystal glass and a raspberry lamp pick up the wall's colours exactly.
    The tigers in the mural
    Two painted tigers come down the red wall, between banana leaves and creepers. Beneath the pink-fringed pendant, a laid table and a small raspberry lamp are enough to turn the decor into a stage.
    At the bar, late in the day
    At the counter, two guests laugh over a drink, on bottle-green velvet stools. Aldo Gigli's decor is discreet here: it lives in the materials, the low light and the colour of the seats.
    The dining room beneath the large domes
    A line of tables beneath three wide white shades. Over the full height of the wall, the painted jungle mixes reds, pinks, ochres and whites; two fringed wall lights illuminate it from within.
    A cocktail in front of the pink mural
    A guest raises her glass in front of the pinkest part of the mural: wide open fronds, stylised flowers, reds warmed by the light. The decor works as a portrait backdrop, exactly what Aldo Gigli always aimed for.
    Laid table, red foliage
    Glasses, plates and a candle on the dark marble; behind, the red foliage and green strokes of the mural. Nothing separates the table from the decor: the painted wall takes part in the service.
    Late evening, games and whisky
    Backgammon, a wooden noughts-and-crosses board, a cigar and Japanese whisky poured at the table: the evening settles in. Behind, the green and pink fronds of the mural recall that all this happens inside a hand-painted set.
    The signature cocktail
    A cut-crystal coupe, an orange zest curled into a spiral and an edible flower: the cocktail list extends the decor, same vocabulary of colours, same taste for staging.
    A seasonal set: feathers, candelabra and pumpkins
    For a seasonal night, the house puts on a costume: black and pink feathers, candelabra, cut-out butterflies, a painted skull and pumpkins. Aldo Gigli's way has not changed since the Mirano: transform the room for a single night.
    Chilled glass, orange zest
    Close-up of a cut glass, ice, bubbles and an orange zest set like a sail. The bar photography carries the same care for detail as the painted decor.
    The pale room, beneath the painted palms
    Another mood: a pale mural of water greens and washed skies, where two guests dine and laugh. The same venue changes climate entirely depending on the room and the hour.
    Masks at the bar
    Three figures in black in front of the wall of bottles, a feather mask and a tiger mask in hand. The club plays with costume, just as the Mirano's themed nights did.
    The venue at nightfall
    Overall view at the blue hour: terraces, lit palms, white façade and a large ficus. Aldo Gigli's painted decor lies inside this house opening onto the gardens of Marbella.
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