Figure 1 Air Specialty Coffee customer seating
Imagine a place that takes your breath away. Sharp lines and natural contours that please the eye so much that you pause the first time you step in. Imagine having your favorite cup of coffee inside of this space. Not only do you get to escape from the world, but you have all your senses still engaged. Your eyes take in some of the most aesthetically pleasing angles in a cafe space. Your nose inhales the delicious smells that come from an espresso bar and brew station.
Figure 2 Hoof by Bone customer seating
The sound of cafe music along with the workflow of the baristas preparing these excellent drinks produces a calming bustle for the ears. The feel of the comfortable chair you're sitting in and how the cup fits in your hand so perfectly are small things you still experience in the front of your conscious mind. And finally, enjoying the coffee of your preference during your small window of time that you use to step away from adulting, these are all things that you experience when you enter these three cafes we're going to discuss.
Figure 3 La Petite by Bone espresso bar
Air Specialty Coffee, Hoof Specialty Coffee, La Petite Coffee are the three cafes we described. All three can have a blog dedicated to themselves, but that may come down the road so for now, consider this a teaser to three cafes that are supplied by Archers and designed by Bone Studio. After seeing some of these photos, you may want to look them up if you’re in the market for an incredible design studio.
Figure 4 Air Specialty Coffee facing customer seats
Air is the smallest of the three, yet it takes advantage of the space's lengthy design. Its linear form takes prevalence right as you walk in, and you experience its layout as if you're walking down a wide hallway. Customer seating is on the sidewall facing the rest of the entire space. Purposely placed in the middle of the whole room is the coffee bar. Its purpose is to stand as the heart of the cafe and the nucleus of the entire space where most of the attention will naturally go.
Figure 5 Air Specialty Coffee entrance view
Air's monochromatic tone sets the moon for the entire cafe. Simultaneously, the baseline tone is a smart decision because it helps all the accents and sporadic color splashes to pop and draw more attention around the café space. For as small as this place is, you may not find a better design or layout to enjoy a cup of coffee and have all your senses tickled.
Figure 6 Air Specialty Coffee bar sinks
Figure 7 Hoof espresso bar angle
Hoof is another design by Bone, which tells a story from the moment you enter. You're immediately transported to the countryside, and it's as if the cafe was a refurbished horse stable. The rustic and earthy finishes from the walls to the ceilings place you in that environment, yet you are still in the city's modern cafe. With deconstructed coffee bars around the entire space, each island is home to its own coffee preparation method. Customers and staff are free to move around the whole area, weaving in and out from each partition, giving the sense of freedom you don't often find in cafes.
Figure 7 Hoof pour-over station inset Acaia Pearls
Again, this space was meant to provoke all the senses during your stay here. If you are not in deep conversation with the baristas and staff about coffee, Hoof would be a great place just to let your mind wander and maybe explore more meditative thoughts. Hoof is a testament to creativity and the ability to show how a minimalist design can still carry out a modern high-tech execution of a coffee service.
Figure 8 Hoof entrance and pour-over station
LA PETITE
Figure 9 La Petite outdoor patio looking in
La Petite is surely to be one of the cafe spaces you've never experienced before. Once more, the space's minimalist design and execution marry itself to a modern style coffee service. For a cafe with an indoor and outdoor space, it's almost as if you're experiencing different shops at the same time during the same visit. The seating was inspired by traditional Emirati floor majlises with a diverse seating arrangement selection while still providing the same relaxing cafe seating used in modern cafes.
Figure 10 La Petite espresso bar angle at night
The indoor mood is set by the aesthetic layout and design, combined with a very intentional color scheme. From the morning when the sun comes in, and as it creates shadows throughout the day, La Petite's ambiance is entirely transformed once the sun goes down for the evening. La Petite is essentially still a minimalist cafe space. However, it can offer itself as four stores or four different cafes in the same space. This fantastic illusion is created from light changes throughout the day. The inside cafe space and an elevation change to the outside patio also help you experience these multiple environments. In La Petite, we have another night and day space that makes you feel like you're in an oasis in the middle of the desert.
Figure 11 La Petite outdoor patio looking in at night
Archers, Bone, and the owners of these three cafes have something in common, Quality. Bone was chosen as the studio designer for all three spaces because of their Quality within their body of work. The owners were also looking for a reliable coffee company whose values align with theirs, in steps the Archers Coffee team that built their reputation around the word Quality.
These connections aren't just as automatic as it seems. Archers Coffee doesn't partner up with just any operation looking for coffee and support. The beautiful live, in-person result of all these conditions aligning is the experience we get from visiting each of these shops. All three shops' owners, Bone Studio, and Archers look to partner with like minds who want to push the traditional café experience boundaries. All involved in these projects seek genuine connections with future-forward intentions and the endless pursuit of delivering an unforgettable experience for every customer who visits and orders a simple coffee cup.
The architecture and design of these three cafes have a common theme of freedom. Customers have the freedom to roam and experience every angle of each cafe space. Baristas have the freedom to display their skills in front of, behind, or to the spectators' side just the same. Bone completely deletes the barriers of the traditional customer-staff physical boundaries that are prevalent in cafes, even 'till now.
Figure 14 La Petite by Bone
For Archers to be hosted inside these three brilliant purveyors of coffee, it is indeed a privilege to be an essential aspect of these projects. For these three cafes designed by Bone, which invites customers to have all their senses satisfied, the Archers' contribution to the Sense of Taste through specialty coffee is truly a magical touch that completes the experience of a simple coffee break in these amazing cafes.
Written by: Neil Soque | Photo Credits: David Disuanco
