Hugo Toro Unveils His Secret Speakeasy in Cannes

"AD100 designer Hugo Toro is no stranger to the art of world-building. He designed his latest project, Flash, located behind a hidden door set inside the 1928 Palm Beach complex of Cannes, France, to look like "a home that has been turned into a speakeasy and a bar," he says. The Mexican references, Brutalist muscle, and a few unmistakably "European codes" of decor unfold into an underground fever dream."

"Guests enter through undulating warm wood paneling that feels like stepping into a Gaspar Noé film set. A large bar in the center of the room sits under a bespoke lighting structure designed by Toro. "Fusion and galvanization," the designer says, were lighting goals that his studio wanted to home in on the lounge, which glows with a sexy red aura-laminated chrome flanked by red screens create an atmosphere "like dancing under a volcano.""

"For Toro, details are everything: Most of the furniture was custom-made to fit the space, with couches in plush velvet, leather banquettes, and patterned carpet inspired by Mexican mangroves. "I wanted to go back to the glory age of the speakeasy," Toro says. His "patchwork of nomadic references" come from both '70s and '90s glamour and decadence-great touchstones for a place custom-made for spending nights dancing with abandon."

Hugo Toro designed Flash as a concealed speakeasy within the 1928 Palm Beach complex in Cannes, combining Mexican motifs, Brutalist massing, and European decorative codes into an immersive underground setting. Guests pass undulating warm wood paneling into a space anchored by a central bar beneath a bespoke lighting sculpture that emphasizes fusion and galvanization. A red-laminated chrome, red screens, and sultry red glow create an atmosphere likened to dancing under a volcano. Most furniture was custom-made—plush velvet couches, leather banquettes, and a patterned carpet inspired by Mexican mangroves—evoking '70s and '90s glamour and decadence. Separately, Buchanan Studio collaborated with Original British Timeless Classics on a domestically produced lighting collection in England.

Read at Architectural Digest