Blue Bottle Coffee Opens in Osaka
Designed by Tokyo-based studio I IN, Blue Bottle Coffee Umeda Chayamachi Cafe — the first in Osaka — is a futuristic, sensory space designed to convey the brand’s DNA to a new audience
Blue Bottle Coffee is known for its modern, simple and airy cafes — a signature aesthetic developed through its many locations around the world. Adding to its already expansive Japan portfolio, the Californian coffee roaster and retailer has now opened its first cafe in Osaka’s vibrant Chayamachi.
Taking over the ground and first floors of Urban Terrace, a modern low-rise glass building, the new Blue Bottle Coffee Umeda Chayamachi Cafe was designed by Tokyo-based design studio I IN. Since this is the first Blue Bottle outpost in the city, the brief was to convey the brand story in a clear and strong manner. ‘The mission was to express the identity of Blue Bottle Coffee and introduce a new way of communicating with customers through digital tools in the store,’ explains designer and I IN co-founder Yohei Terui. ‘By merging digital tools and interior design, we created a new customer experience, a truly new cafe for the next generation.’
The 345-square-metre space is organised into distinct areas, each offering a different experience and communicating the brand’s identity through specific materials and lighting. The ground level is arranged around a large polished stainless-steel corner bar, creating an inviting place for guests to interact with the cafe’s baristas. Here, timber floors, table bases and shelves contrast with blue glass tabletops, creating a clean and sophisticated look that also represents the brand’s identity. ‘We found glass to be the best material to communicate the brand’s identity,’ explains I IN’s second co-founder Hiromu Yuyama. ‘It conveys fluidity, like the liquid of the coffee, transparency, reflected in the brand’s identity, and layers of depth, like the process of brewing fresh coffee.’
Above the wooden staircase leading to the first floor hangs a custom-made glass chandelier with dozens of coffee-coloured spheres. The highlight of the second-floor seating area is a striking frosted glass-enclosed cubicle with terrazzo benches and tables. Guests seated in this section are treated to a multisensory experience in the form of immersive sounds and images by digital artist Panoramatiks, which ‘fall’ from the ceiling through a large rectangular screen.
‘We believe that it’s very important to have a strong statement when a brand opens a store,’ says Terui. ‘The message we send through sensory design and experience will live long in customers’ memories — and we believe that’s far more important than the design in and of itself.’ This sensory approach has resulted in a cafe that’s not only aesthetically pleasing, but is an immersive introduction to Blue Bottle’s universe and philosophy.
Text / Nina Milhaud
Images / Tomooki Kengaku
