What would you say is the most noticeable feature of the rebranding?
I think the hot rolled steel. We spent a lot of time trying to work with this material
and were happy with the result. Some of the elements like sandblasting the exposed
concrete columns and then mixing this in with marble, which is quite a slick
material, created a unique contrasting effect. I also love the copper lights which
were custom made – almost every element in the design was custom made and has
a touch of Seattle’s branding woven into the fabric of the space, so although it’s
quite subtle you’ll see some of the cut outs and metal frames are actually the Seattle
Coffee cup. What stands out is the mix of the raw materials against the slickness
of the marble and glass. Cape Town has great buildings to work with as they have
heritage and character including lots of raw brick. In some other regions you have
to create a lot more as the natural character isn’t there. It has been easier in Cape
Town to pull out the raw features such as the brickwork, beams, concrete slabs
which they just don’t have in other areas.
What was the inspiration behind the design?
Originally all the concept work was done by the three partners of COA – Michal
Korycki, John van Wyk and myself (Ian Gray) and we conceptualised the original
vision design document. John had just returned from a London trip where he had
embarked on a coffee shop tour to gather inspiration from the new look coffee shops
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