272 Wood Slats Were Used To Create A Sculptural Element Inside This New Coffee Bar

A modern coffee bar with a large wood bar and a sculptural element made from 272 wood slats.

Design firm jones | haydu has shared photos of The Caffé by Mr. Espresso, a new coffee bar in Oakland, California, that features curved birch slats.

The design of the cafe is heavily inspired by Italian culture, using minimalism and contrast, with the designers explaining, “The Italians call the ritual of stepping into a caffè and enjoying espresso a “pausa” or a pause — a moment that allows for reflection and community.”

Inside, the design centers around this communal ritual. To accommodate a good volume of people, the bar is not simply linear, but sits as an island in the space, and is made of oak from a single tree that fell in Sonoma and was reworked by Evan Shively at Arborica.

Behind the bar, hand-polished copper contrasts with the organic nature of wood and stone. Overhead, a wooden sculptural form is used in a diaphanous manner in contrast to the heavy stable oak bar.

Though the shapes and fabrication process are modern, it is a nod to the domes and arcades of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

The sculpture is composed of 272 slats formed from a total of 528 pieces, all made of birch plywood, CNC’d, designed, and laid out to minimize waste.

Each slat is roughly 12’ in length, 2” wide tapering to ¾”, and weighing roughly two pounds. Prototypes were made and tested at the architect’s office.

The final slats were assembled, glued, and stained by the architects at the client’s warehouse.

Many different staining processes were tested for the pieces. The final stain was achieved with Ethiopian Shantawene coffee, brewed quite strong, and wet applied. Once dry, the slats were then hand-rubbed with beeswax.