Auction Rooms Cafe

Name: Auction Rooms Cafe
Location: North Melbourne, Australia
Photography: Erika Hildegard Photography

It's always a good day when I get to click through recent images captured by Erika Hildegard. Auction Rooms Cafe is a specialty coffee roaster and cafe located in the former WB Ellis Auction House. With exposed brick, lofty ceilings, and wood supports the architecture sets a pretty great stage.

Sitka & Spruce

Name: Sitka & Spruce
Location: Seattle, WA
Design: Unkown

Located in Melrose Market, a vintage auto garage dating back to 1919 and 1928 respectively, Sitka & Spruce has quickly climbed to the top of my Seattle restaurant list. With an over the top open concept and location amongst exceptional vendors, it's easy to see why. 

The Commune Social

Name: The Commune Social
Location:Neri&Hu Design and Research Office
Design: Shanghai, China

The Commune Social is a great example of a well balanced, rustic meets modern, space. With small, compartmentalized interior spaces, each area is minimal and well defined.

Umami Burger Arts

Name: Umami Burger Arts
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Design: Westin Mitchell

As a chain of restaurants, Umami Burger did a great job crafting an industrial and warm space utilizing exposed, raw brick and muted tones. 

Black Jack

Name: Black Jack
Location: Washington, D.C.
Design: CoreDC

While in DC last week, I had the opportunity to visit Black Jack, located just above Pearl Dive Oyster Bar on 14th street. The attention to detail and reigned in circus theme created a great bar environment that felt fun, but not over the top.

Dock Kitchen

Name: Dock Kitchen
Location: London

With a beautiful location and proximity to Tom Dixon's shop, Dock Kitchen was set up for success from the beginning. With exposed brick walls, a spectacular view, and attention to detail the space strikes a beautiful balance of refined rustic.

Astro Coffee

Name: Astro Coffee
Location: Detroit, MI

As a Michigan native, I've always had a soft spot for Detroit. While the news might lead you to believe its a city losing hope, places like Astro Coffee and other Cork Town favorites are slowly but surely revitalizing the area.

Loveland Ale Works

Pillar of Salt

Name: Pillar of Salt
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Located in Richmond, Pillar of Salt serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a relaxed and creative space. We love that the large front windows open up allowing a direct connect with the outside and fill up the space with natural light.

Lucky's Doughnuts

Name: Lucky's Doughnuts & Forty Ninth Parallel Coffee
Location: Vancouver, BC

Located in Vancouver, Forty Ninth Parallel coffee brought together two great concepts under the same, well designed roof.

Using the great bones of their raw & urban space, industrial furnishings and a large wood bar act as a rich yet neutral backdrop to fresh made doughnuts and cappuccinos.

Palmer & Co

Name: Palmer & Co
Location: Sydney, Australia

Palmer & Co is an underground bar in Sydney that easily transports you to another era. Dimly lit and spilling over with warmth, the space beckons of eras gone by. 

Kolonihagen

Name: Kolonihagen
Location: Oslo, Norway

There is something so rustic and unfinished about Kolonihagen that creates a warm and welcoming space.

Drink

Name: Drink
Location: Boston, MA

What might be the best part of Sportello, is the complete contrast that awaits you just below. Drink, the sister restaurant, features the same great bar layout but contrasts the upstairs modern interior with a rich, warm experience.

Local Favorite: BellyQ

Name: BellyQ
Location: Chicago, IL

BellyQ, chef Bill Kim's newest restaurant has brought yet another interesting spot to the bustling West Loop food scene.

Our Work; The Savoy (Odyssey)

Name: The Savoy
Location: Chicago, IL

A project we had the pleasure of working on this past spring recently opened it's doors in the Wicker Park neighborhood, right here in Chicago. For this project, we were involved in the schematic & design development phases and helped the client layout the space, design the initial concept, as well as specify the initial FF&E items for within the space. 

The concept behind the space began with the original name for the space; Odyssey. Taking Homer's Epic and applying it to the space allowed us to play with a dark nautical concept. Using this as our starting base, we refined our concept down into natural and classic materials (woods, ropes, subway tile, mirrors) with warm earth tones for colors. To keep the space from going too nautical in feeling, we specified & envisioned industrial lighting, worn antiques and warm brass shelving mixed with pieces already owned. The space was ultimately renamed before opening but the initial concept remained.

Tandem Coffee Roasters

Name: Tandem Coffee Roasters
Location: Portland, ME

Everyone knows that my love for Portland (The original, East Coast version.) runs deep. To see Portland's restaurant and coffee culture expanding as quickly as it is couldn't make me any happier. Tandem, Portlands newest third wave coffee roaster just set up shop in the unlikely East Bayside neighborhood and created a tranquil and bright space to match.

Craftsman & Wolves

Name: Craftsman & Wolves

Location: San Francisco, CA

Craftsman & Wolves is a speciality bakery located in San Francisco. What I love about this concept is simply how much they managed to elevate the experience of a typical bakery. Clean lines, simple materials, and a bit of rustic/ industrialall contrast the jewel-like qualities of the pastry displays.

Virtue Feed & Grain

Name: Virtue Feed and Grain

Location: Alexandria, VA
Design: Cathal & Meshelle Armstrong

With the restaurant's name taken from the buildings original use; a feed house, Virtue converted the warehouse like space into a casual & welcoming neighborhood spot.

Parts & Labour

Name: Parts & Labour
Location: Toronto
Design: Castor Design

Located in an old hardware store, Parts & Labor serves to be an alternative to the typical watering hole offering in Toronto. harvesting ingredients from their rooftop garden and offering art installations and music in the basement, the space is part hipster, part punk-rock.

Coppa

Name: Coppa
Location: Boston

While walking through Boston's South End, we happened by Coppa, an enoteca focusing on nose-to-tail cooking and charcuterie. Set amongst rich, exposed brick walls with a wood slat bench running along the length of the space, the space feels lively and comfortable. Metal tolix-esq cafe chairs and metal/wood bar stools add a touch of industrial into the mix, a perfect environment for the up and coming neighborhood and chef.

Image 2 © boston.com

Image 3 © Moebiwan flickr

Image 4 © entrepreneur