This playful bar was inspired by it's namesake the Güiro, a traditional Cuban percussion instrument made out of dried tropical fruit. The installation was the brain child of the artistic duo Los Carpinteros who were commissioned by Absolut Art Bureau to invent a bar for last year's Art Basel Miami Beach show. Taking on the form of an upturned shell or fruit case, the oval-shaped structure has a slatted surface that is designed to be lit from within to illuminate the interior structure.

The grid design of the building will be emphasized with its ambient lighting, while the interior rectangular openings in the walls double as cool seating areas. A central bar is the focus of the site, from which bartenders can serve visitors up a range of creative cocktails.

Within Cuban culture the dried fruit has a range of functions, and often will contain food or be used to drink from. But Los Carpinteros did not take inspiration from the tropical fruit by accident as the word is also used in slang to mean a party and celebration.

+ Los Carpinteros

Images courtesy of Sean Kelly, New York/Absolut Art Bureau, by Roberto Chamorro