Slovenia’s foremost chef Ana Roš has teamed up with fashion designer and environmentalist Matea Benedetti to create new sustainable nature-inspired uniforms at her restaurant Hiša Franko.
The front-of-house uniforms, launched at Hiša Franko at a fashion show but to be worn daily by staff, feature plant-inspired prints on organic, sustainably sourced materials such as wood and apple fibres. The flowers and pant prints take inspiration from the surrounding forest and meadows that provide much of the foraged ingredients that make up the dishes on the menu.
Recently becoming the first restaurant in Slovenia to be awarded two Michelin stars, Hiša Franko has reopened with a new energy, and a new menu based on months spent together with staff during lockdown, new staff members, and a new range of food products. Rós is building a multi-faceted brand.
“I have been following the work of Matea Benedetti for some time now and I have always admired daring people," said Rós. "Our view of life is similarly colourful, but above all, it is very close to nature. One morning I was staring across the meadows towards the mountain Krn with coffee in my hand and thinking about the future. It was just a few weeks before the reopening of the restaurant. Worries and fears in my head have accumulated to such an extent that I didn't even notice everything beautiful around me. But that view of all the green around me woke me up. I picked up the phone and called Matea: 'Let's do something crazy.' We brought wild, colourful, green, lush nature to the restaurant premises. Ecological materials, images of ferns, dandelions, dragonflies turned the atmosphere in Hiša Franko into a catwalk, a theatrical performance with a single clear message: how beautiful the world is.”
Photos by Primož Lukežič