Grinders Coffee has won a silver medal in the 2016 Melbourne Design Awards for its revised Lygon Street flagship store.
The Melbourne Design Awards program provides marketplace recognition across an extensive range of categories and celebrates the creativity and courage of those who are leading the way.
A panel comprised of industry experts shortlisted the nominations. The results were announced on 30 June, with an awards presentation to take place on 27 July.
“I am really humbled by having our space recognised for design excellence by this most prestigious award,” said Grinders Coffee’s Faye Heininger. “This award recognises of a lot of hard work by an amazing group of people to achieve something quite special. It also reflects what an amazing industry the coffee industry is, encouraging creativity and innovation, and in particular Grinders Coffee.”
Best. Design to Life designers Jacob Burke and Tom Debenham are the team responsible for breathing new life into the historic site.
They quite literally had to demolish, build, and renew the 27-square-metre space, which for more than 50 year had been an iconic part of Lygon Street’s heritage, first established in 1962. Their impressive work in a two-month space saw the espresso bar shortlisted in the Best Interior Design (Hospitality) category.
“Essentially, the brief was to reinvigorate the Lygon Street location so that the brand was seen and loved once again. And most notably, being in Melbourne, a fundamental part of the brief was to actually be able to serve coffee,” Director of Projects Jacob said.
Jacob and Tom used rich and warm materials to evoke a sense of comfortability, off-white tiles to create a neutral base, bespoke joinery for depth and diversity, and copper elements to represent Grinders’ industrial past. Jacob says the leather and timber veneer, together with the concrete-finish bench tops and black steel are all designed to complement Grinders’ refreshed brand.
As a part of the renovation, all the internal walls were replaced with glass, while sleek concrete benches house state-of-the-art technology like the Classe 11 Xcelsius machines, designed to explore the fourth wave of coffee via temperature profiling.
“We have created a coffee experience in the venue that started Grinders Coffee’s espresso movement in Melbourne,” said Faye. “The Lygon St store was designed as a mecca for coffee lovers and somewhere for the entire coffee community to come together. The unique design blends our commitment to creating the perfect coffee experience with a strong desire to pay homage to our historic roots.”
Visit Grinders Coffee’s new innovation hub, located at 277 Lygon St, Carlton, Victoria.
For more information visit Grinders Coffee’s new-look website grinderscoffee.com.au
Image credit: Tom Debenham
