“The game of the ball is deeply rooted in this land,” says Carlos Serra, owner of @mercaderdeindias,

“The game of the ball is deeply rooted in this land,” says Carlos Serra, owner of @mercaderdeindias, a design studio based in Valencia, Spain. So deeply rooted, in fact, that the city boasts the longest continually open sports court in Europe: the @pelayogastrotrinquet, where teams have gathered to play pilota for 150 years. Nebot, the court’s restaurant, needed to capture the essence of the sport without interfering with the twice-weekly games. A hand tossing the ball hangs over the dining area—a playful tribute to a sport taken seriously enough that locals refer to the court, accessible in the back, as the Cathedral of the Ball. Text by @jessedorris,