Plantation
Date: 2011
Address: 253, Level 2, Melbourne Central, 300 La Trobe Street Melbourne 3000
The Plantation flagship store design was a collaboration between Foolscap’s Adele Winteridge and interior designers Jennifer Lowe and Brooke Thorn of Barbara and Fellows.
As the Plantation brand invokes associations with colonial coffee plantations, the design team began by drawing inspiration from the ornate colonial architecture found in exotic tropical locations. These ideas were then translated into the space at the Melbourne Central Dining Hall through the use of warm and tactile materials and customer focussed planning.
Traditional colonial forms and patterns inspired the tile designs that line the walls and floor and the hand-crafted, bespoke joinery pieces fitted throughout the space reflect the hand-made quality of Plantation’s coffee and food. Collaborations with artisans NMH metalwork, joiners Simsite and Goodsir & Otto and specialty builders Liquid Lines allowed us to achieve a beautiful and refined aesthetic in every aspect of the space.
A series of archways run along the length of the space adding rhythm and spatial interest and the striking red and white tiled floor alludes to the deep, shady balconies of plantation houses of a bygone era. The long, clean, timber and natural stone bench gives a contemporary edge to the space and the copper joinery and hand forged steel doors imbue a sense of permanence in the transient food hall environment of Melbourne Central.
The Plantation coffee experience is an educational one that does not intimidate or exclude. Therefor the store layout was designed to encourage customer interaction with alternative coffee making methods such as pour over and cold-drip coffee. A custom-made cold-drip coffee dividing wall brings occupants into close contact with the product and an ‘aroma station,’ which allows the customer to smell and touch the different blends of coffee, adds a sensory experience to the retail area. We hope that for many, it will be a new way to experience drinking coffee.
Size: 75m2
Builder: Liquid Lines
Photographer: Tracey Lee Hayes
