Sthlm 02 Studion 咖啡店丨瑞典斯德哥尔摩丨Contem

Ever walked into a coffee shop on the other side of the world and had the eerie feeling you’ve been there before? No longer just the hallmarks of Starbucks, homogeneous designed cafes can be found all over the world—yet these venues are no chains.

This fairly well-documented phenomenon has been called everything from ‘a flattening of culture’ and ‘Filterworld’ to ‘Refinement Culture’, all similar coined terms referring to a ubiquitous style developed out of a sped-up globalisation bred on social media. With minimalist stylings and polite furniture, these spaces feel detached from place or context—so much so that if you went in blindfolded and were spun around three times, your guess of what city you’re in would be as good as mine.

Not confined to just cafes, these changes are happening all around us, from Airbnb’s, coworking spaces and gyms, all based on real-time algorithmic recommendations that we are all guilty of yielding to. Yet coffee shops, with their consistency in people’s everyday routines, have become the natural pin-up girl for this, easily digestible spaces that have major global accessibility. No matter where you might be in the world.

It’s all a bit of a bummer and one we are all guilty of partaking in. After all, who doesn’t want to wake up to the familiar before you’ve had your morning coffee? But as an antidote to the prevailing beige, today we spotlight four unique coffee shops doing their own thing—and doing it well. From the sculptural and industrial to the colourful and glossy, find them all below.

Sthlm 02 Studion by Contem. Photos by Mikael Olsson.

Sthlm 02 Studion in Stockholm by CONTEM.

Designed by Contem, this Stockholm cafe is a beautiful and balanced space that heroes discarded local elm trees in its design. Yes, I know what you might be thinking: Didn’t you just say minimalism is bad and driving us towards a culture of uniformity? But Sthlm 02 Studion is grounded in a wealth of context.

Working in collaboration with architects Studio Abirascid Hemlin and Ductus Studio, the designers drew inspiration from iconic local establishments such as Pelican, Kvarnen, and Konstnärsbaren. Surviving decades of trend shifts, these notable venues all share a bold use of timber. Contem pays homage to this Scandinavian stalwart with a space decked in Elm trees discarded thanks to Dutch Elm disease. During 2023 over 600 elms were taken down in Stockholm alone, with the vast majority becoming fuel for district heating.

The studio worked with a specialist arborist vaccinating endangered trees who had been storing several trees, felled fifteen years ago from the garden of one of Sweden’s most renowned furniture designers, Carl Malmsten, and just waiting for the right project. At a local sawmill, the wood was systematically dried and transformed into panels, then installed and complemented by the furniture collection produced in Bandhagen, Stockholm.

The cafe now embodies a narrative of environmental responsibility, turning a chance encounter into a symbol of conscious and timeless design.

Petibon in Paris by Uchronia. Photos by Felix Dol Maillot.

Petibon Coffee Shop in Paris by Uchronia.

Inspired by the dimensions and shape of the small sandwich available at Paris cafe and coffee shop Petibon, this project by Uchronia works to a modular brief. Counters, shelves and ceiling lamps all replicate the rectangle proportions of the said seven-centimetre sub, coming together in a marriage of tasty materials, know-how and colours.

Behind a neo-Parisian facade, the rectangle becomes a repeated motif that creates a link between different elements. An illuminated sign; a glass ceiling lamp by the artist Mieke Meijer, counter motifs in resin and Japanese copper sheets by Atelier Roma; even the composition of the built-in wall shelves and cut-outs in the window, here, everything is rectangular. It’s a subtle and poetic nod to the Petibon sandwich, against a backdrop of pop-contemporary set with the grid.

Beaver Cafe by vice versa. Photos by Thanawatchu.

House of Beaver Cafe by Vice Versa.

In the northern part of Bangkok, House of Beaver is a cafe and eatery inspired by the industrious rodent. Serving itself as a tiny oasis, the Vice Versa-designed space welcomes users to explore the creativity behind a beaver’s craftsmanship.

Riffing on the idea of beavers as builders, bitten traces offer sculpted columns, with zig-zag details. The interior acts as an interpretation of the animal’s innate creative craftsmanship, illuminated through design elements.

A storyline of bitten details continues to other custom aspects; sets of birch plywood furniture intertwine with the interior and crafted columns define the space, creating a feeling of being in a crafted forest. This arrangement creates a connection between the indoor and existing outdoor trees. A hideaway oasis in the middle of the busy city, this cafe is a reminder of the creativeness of nature—and the creativity hidden within all of us.

Coffee Shop in Pantin by Office Abrami Rojas. Photos by Francesca Iovene.

Coffee Shop and Roastery in Pantin by Office Abrami Rojas.

In Pantin, a city outside of Paris, a 1935 building has been ingeniously converted into a specialty coffee shop and roastery by the Italian-Mexican architectural design firm Office Abrami Rojas.

With a fondness for existing buildings, Office Abrami Rojas immediately identified this as a restoration project. Custom-made steel furniture and terracotta cladding create a minimalist space, where the patina of time becomes a tapestry in shades of beige. The existing enhances the project, and vice versa. Natural light enters through the heritage Art Deco domes, while a minimal take on lighting design emphasises the geometry of these double-height spaces.

The sequence is underlined by a succession of repeated domes in ellipse, square and circle shapes to naturally incorporate the architecture. A transparency, and reverence for the existing and handicraft materials combined all coalesce in the making of this gorgeous and detailed oriented coffee shop.

[Images courtesy of Contem, Uchronia, Vice Versa & Office Abrami Rojas. Photography credits as stated.]