Typical chain java joints are serviceable, but hardly noted for fun, full-tilt design. For Voyager Craft Coffee’s newest outpost, Studio BANAA created a vibrant micro-café with echoes of 1980s Italian Memphis style and Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
For the firm’s sixth location for the company, the designers implemented a consistent visual language, yet went even bolder. “This is a progression of the brand, but for this project they wanted to go all out on the color,” says Dane Bunton, co-founder and managing principal of Studio BANAA.
Located in San José, California, the former seafood restaurant was just 1,000 square feet. To produce the condensed maximalist environment that the team envisioned, they approached the line space as a painter’s composition and unfolded it into a longitudinal section. Nastaran Mousavi, Studio BANAA co-founder and design director, referenced the paper cut-outs of a renowned French artist. “I was inspired by Matisse and his collages to bring in materials and textures in a very cohesive way,” she notes.
A sculptural coffee bar is clad in pink perforated metal and wrapped with integrated shelving. Its cylindrical, skirted form organizes the circulation for both customers and back-of-house staff, and serves as a focal point. Lacquers and powder-coat finishes not only keep surfaces clean in high-touch areas, they also provide depth within the tight footprint.
Curves are repeated overhead and throughout the interior. Pendants with scalloped edges add a playful touch, paired with a squiggle LED inset. Cushioned benches and blue steel tables complete the look. These furnishings are surrounded by wavy wall trims, mirrored at the window ledges.
Two custom murals feature abstracted topography, derived from maps of Brazil and Ethiopia, where Voyager sources its beans for premium roasts. Rendered in saturated shades of blue, green, and coral, the charts are not of literal locales but represent lands that exist in one’s imagination.
The finished coffee spot, even though compact, doesn’t skimp on elevated design. “We didn’t have as many architectural moves to play around with, and so it is a patchwork of elements that somehow come together,” Mousavi explains. “This is a small space with a big presence.”
To see more work by the studio, visit studiobanaa.com.
Photography courtesy of Mikiko Kikuyama.
