Hospitality Design - October 2017 - 45

perspectives

trends

cafés

Photo by KUNIHIRO FUKUMORI

By Jennifer Young

1. In Kaikado,
white oak shelves
mix with other
natural materials
like brass, copper,
and marble.

PERFECT BLEND
Chic cafés reinvent coffee culture

From major brands to neighborhood favorites
and cultural haunts, cafés and coffee shops
have long attracted patrons for their warm
and relaxed ambiance, enticing aroma, and
ability to say, "Why don't you stay awhile?"
Increasingly, all are united by a stronger
focus on design and the customer: the coffee
enthusiasts, caffeine junkies, and those
somewhere in between. Here, we look at eight
cool cafés offering a stylish jolt to the typical
scene (and those morning lines).

Kaikado

Almost a century old, the building that Kaikado
calls home was once a repair workshop and
then an office for Kyoto trams before laying
vacant for 40 years. Today, the café, garden,
gallery, and private bar-which originally
began as a tea caddie maker-is a simple,
bright space using "natural materials that
age with grace and bespoke design solutions"
to withstand earthquakes, says Anne-Marie

Buemann, managing partner of Tokyo and
Copenhagen-based OEO Studio, which designed
the Japanese destination. A mix of oak, brass,
copper, and marble creates an experience that
"feels authentic yet fresh for both locals and
foreigners," she explains. Copper wall lamps
reference teapot origins in shape, as well as
pendants that hang over a clean-lined barista
counter with a glossy top finish, while oak builtins create separate dining spaces.

Barnes & Noble

AvroKO's four principals Kristina O'Neal,
Adam Farmerie, Greg Bradshaw, and William
Harris, along with the firm's branding
arm Brand Bureau, looked to the Arts and
Crafts movement when creating three new
bookstore-restaurant concepts for Barnes &
Noble outposts in Eastchester, New York;
Edina, Minnesota; and Folsom, California.
Teak millwork and woven and canvas
textures against plaster walls keep "the
space feeling warm amidst the more austere
retail environment," notes O'Neal, while the
centralized, circular bar, which transitions
from serving coffee by day to cocktails by
night, seamlessly joins "the bookstore with
the restaurant and bar areas," says Farmerie.

Custom-designed globe pendants hanging
above are "a very direct homage to the organic
architecture and ceiling details of Taliesin West
[Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and school
in Scottsdale, Arizona]," adds Bradshaw, which
draws attention to the wooden beams jutting
out from the center with a star-like quality.
The dining space provides a more
sophisticated feel with X-shaped shelves
housing books, newspapers with cheeky
headlines displayed on rods, and an eyecatching wood-paneled fixture illuminated
by recessed lighting straight out of The Great
Gatsby. Moody blue tones play with wood
finishes, while artwork was carefully selected,
such as a corkboard of "imagined silhouettes
of characters from classic novels that we had
illustrated by hand," says Harris. "The wall was
formatted to become a changing art feature," he
adds, noting it's the first of more to come.

Dao Dao Coffee

For principal Zhou Yonggang of Chengdu,
China firm Horus Architectural Design,
the "ideal café is an expression of freedom,
including attitude, vitality, ego, and respect,"
he says. With that ethos in mind, he (along
with architecture lighting design consultancy

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