Penryn-based Anna Hart Design has created the interior for Origin Coffee‘s flagship store – a combined training space for the baristas that use their coffee all over the capital and further afield, and coffee shop for locals.
The 60-square-metre coffee shop on Charlotte Street, Shoreditch, and 56-metre basement education space features Origin’s now trademark monochromatic and sharply-finished natural materials and a hand-painted mural by illustrator John Kilburn.
The brief from the client was to create something more than a coffee shop. Charlotte Road is the Cornish Coffee brand’s London flagship retail and education space, and so its key role is to offer training and support to baristas at the likes of Selfridges and Soho House to whom Origin supply coffee. The café upstairs was also tasked with introducing new coffee-drinkers to the brand.
“It needed to share the typography of speciality coffee house and reflect their position within the market, be unique to them, but not ground breaking,” Anna told coadg. “The education space on the ground floor had an existing customer base they needed to impress, and the café needed to bring new customers in.”
The decision to use such a monochromatic scheme was an easy one, explains Anna: “The Origin brand has always used black and white in their colour palette, but also in the way they source and bring their coffee to market. They’re very straight talking and passionate about doing things properly. We wanted the interior to reflect that.”
MARK Type communal tables were custom-made with concrete worktops to specific sizes and paired with antique Ercol dining chairs sourced via Peppermill Antiques, while Pinch Design‘s Imo bar stools were added to provide contrast: “We choose the bar stools because we wanted to offset the more raw metal work with highly finished and beautifully crafted items and they’re a lovely natural, tactile finish,” says Anna.
Lighting is provided by Terence Woodgate ‘Solid’ and Muuto pendants. “The ‘Solid’ pendant lights are a relatively new collection from Terence Woodgate and we loved that they were a natural material stained black to tie in with our colour scheme,” says Anna. “They allowed us to light the space really effectively with a refined delicate fitting.”
But the stand-out feature is a mural drawn freehand directly onto the wall behind the coffee bar by illustrator John Kilburn, who worked with Origin’s graphic design agency A-Side on the brand’s latest packaging. “The new packing was launching around the same time and we were looking for a backdrop to the brew bar which was a key feature for the coffee shop,” says Anna. “It seemed like a great opportunity to use these illustrations at the forefront of the shop where it brings a unique character to the space.”
Anna Hart Design has been working with Origin coffee for almost five years and previous projects include a workspace connected to their purpose-built roastery, the Brew House in Porthleven as well as exhibitions and pop-ups. The Origin Coffee Roasters Cafe at is now open at 65 Charlotte Road, Shoreditch, London.
With thanks to Jon Attenborough for the photography in this post.
