Mai Thai Via Mazzini

A darker palette, an intimate scale — the Via Mazzini chapter of the Mai Thai series.

This interior mural was created by artist Neve in 2023 at Mai Thai, Via Mazzini, Turin.

An interior wall treatment for the Via Mazzini branch of Mai Thai, a Thai restaurant chain in Turin. The space is a narrow, intimate dining room — a single rectangular volume with tables running along both walls, Edison bulb pendant lights hanging from a rail, a warm ochre ceiling, and a wooden ledge running the length of the side walls. Neve's work covers all three surfaces of the interior: the back wall, the left wall, and the right wall, each with a distinct visual register. **Back wall — Buddha:** A large bronze Buddha face, close to frontal, rendered in dark bronze and warm gold tones — deeper and more metallic than the golden Buddha at Rivoli, more closely resembling a temple bronze than a statue of gilded wood. Eyes nearly closed, the coiled beaded hair (ushnisha) in dark tones. Behind the figure, a deep crimson/red background with a faint Thai pattern impressed into or painted over the surface. A vintage Edison filament bulb hangs in front of the face, its warm filament glow playing against the bronze skin — the lamp as votive light, the Buddha as presence behind the flame. **Left wall — Yant and pattern:** Sacred Yant diagrams (ยันต์) rendered in warm tones — temple-spire forms, sacred script, protective geometric figures — placed over a background of traditional Thai diamond-grid/damask motifs in grey. The Edison lights warm the Yant elements from above, casting their glow across the script, integrating the restaurant's own lighting into the painted composition. **Right wall — Botanical:** Abstract painted grasses or bamboo — long, fine stems with small florets or seeds at the tips — rendered in white-grey against the dark wall in a minimal, gestural register. Almost monochromatic, almost botanical illustration: a counterpoint of quietness against the density of the Yant and Buddha walls. The three surfaces create a complete enclosure: Buddha presence, sacred text, and natural world — the three registers of Thai temple and landscape held inside a Turin restaurant.