D’espresso Cafe Interior by Nema Workshop
Nema Workshop have completed the interior design for a small cafe in New York City, where they took the concept of a library and turned it sideways.

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Description from Nema Workshop:
Located on Madison Avenue, the espresso bar conceptually and literally turns a normal room sideways, creating a striking identity for the emerging brand.
The client approached nemaworkshop with an ambition to build a unique espresso brand and to develop a creative environment that connects to its location on Madison Avenue near Grand Central Station. Inspired by the nearby Bryant Park Library, nemaworkshop designed a store that is straightforward in a simple twisted way – Take a library and turn it SIDEWAYS. The booklined shelves become the floor and ceilings and wood floor ends up on the walls meanwhile the pendants protrude sideways from the wall. To achieve the books shelves on the floor, the space is lined with sepia-toned full size photograph of books printed on custom tiles. The custom tiles run along the floor, up the 15’ foot wall and across the ceiling. The frosted glass wall behind the service counter illuminates the space and the wall directly opposite is clad in dark brown herringbone. The thrust of this concept finds expression in the lighting and materiality, and ultimately the space gives definition to the emerging brand. The concept itself is bold and receptive to future locations.
Visit the Nema Workshop website – here.
Photography by David Joseph
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Davidsign on 08 Oct 2010 at 1:37 am #
It makes you bend your head. Great idea!
ONYX on 08 Oct 2010 at 3:19 am #
Ah, I love it when simplicity and clever work in concert. I like the sideways pendant lights. They didn’t have to add those, but that shows commitment to the design idea. I like the color pallet a lot. Well executed.
jimw on 08 Oct 2010 at 5:49 am #
Clever…
LittleCaesar on 08 Oct 2010 at 7:07 am #
Nice concept. But I think the lighting is too white. A little mood lighting (not too dark though) would be better — maybe put a yellowish fluorescent bulbs in those globe pendant lamps?
shane on 08 Oct 2010 at 7:43 am #
very cool idea & well executed
Alexandra on 08 Oct 2010 at 8:58 am #
This got me stopping dead in my tracks. how cool is that?!
Jonathan on 08 Oct 2010 at 9:26 am #
Nice!!
Simple idea well executed.
Christopheraymond on 08 Oct 2010 at 10:23 am #
Stunning, I’d love to eat at a place like that.
Zero34 on 08 Oct 2010 at 10:27 am #
LOVE the idea, and those sandwiches look AMAZING!!
Dorian G Muncey on 08 Oct 2010 at 1:53 pm #
How fun is this?
The pallet is great although too white in the table tops and counter.
This could have been corrected with simply gelling the the lighting globes RED… How fun would that be?
F-J on 08 Oct 2010 at 3:23 pm #
I could use something a bit stronger than caffeine! Great persecutive.
Suz on 08 Oct 2010 at 4:12 pm #
When photographers take photos of places like this, they tend to use a longer shutter speed, which results in white things looking extra white in the photos. In reality, it’s not that white.
Sou on 08 Oct 2010 at 6:09 pm #
Not all creative design tend to be nice. I feel shaky in this Cafe!
smnrj on 09 Oct 2010 at 2:38 am #
brilliant idea.. v well executed
wud love to have a cup of coffee there
Irene on 09 Oct 2010 at 3:34 pm #
what a stud. i’m definitely visiting in the near future!
lyguy on 09 Oct 2010 at 5:12 pm #
haha in the first pic u can see that even the washroom sign is sideways
Madamimadam on 10 Oct 2010 at 7:23 am #
It is nicely executed (though Hollywood actually does this stuff better, it falls apart a bit on the interior side of the storefront) and I’m sure getting the client to go for it full-tilt was not an easy task, but it’s jist too gimmicky for Madison and 42nd St. It would fit in better in some trendier parts of LA.
Lance on 10 Oct 2010 at 7:38 am #
This is a great concept, not a gimmick. I think it would definitely work well in so many cities. Nice clean design, coffee, sandwiches and dessert, etc. Very nice job.
Argee on 12 Oct 2010 at 12:12 am #
Sooooo cooool! It’s like something out of the movie, “inception” !
dyah on 13 Oct 2010 at 6:38 am #
minimalist but well work on it. great..
contracept on 17 Oct 2010 at 6:38 pm #
Cool idea, but the bookcases lack texture for it to be smashing
Jessica Woods on 18 Oct 2010 at 10:50 am #
The book case is all made of custom, eco-friendly tiling by Imagine Tile (www.imaginetile.com)
Manish Chhadva on 24 Oct 2010 at 12:47 am #
a really nice and out of the box concept, really impressive
sp a. fw on 24 Oct 2010 at 8:44 am #
As a one time joke it is clever. I don’t think it would hold for multiple locations or even for visits to same location.
Katja Nina on 15 Nov 2010 at 8:12 am #
love this, so creative and orignal! got to see this live.
Tony Sully on 08 Jan 2011 at 10:08 am #
As a designer I see this solution as adding confusion to an already upset world. I’m all for fun but this is quite ridiculous. The designers have admitted that they lack the imagination to create a cafe environment with related forms and imagery, and have transported images of another environment into the cafe, and then rotated it so that the resultant finishes do not make sense.