Brand Development & Bespoke Interior Design | Warehouse Conversion
Artisan Coffee Roastery & Café | Kikiwabu Cirencester
Project Scope
Complete brand development and interior design for Kikiwabu, an independent artisan coffee roastery and café in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Services included brand identity creation, space planning for a warehouse conversion, bespoke furniture design and manufacturing, cultural mural artwork commission and full interior fitout with future roasting operations in mind.
Design Concept
Create a warm, inviting coffee house that tells the story of Kikiwabu's North American First Nations-inspired brand identity. The design challenge involved transforming a cold industrial warehouse space with concrete floors and block walls into a welcoming café environment using natural timber, handcrafted details and cultural storytelling elements that honour Indigenous heritage while establishing a unique presence in Cirencester's café scene.
The Solution
New artisan coffee brand Kikiwabu found its home in a warehouse. With its polished concrete floor, concrete block walls and metal framework, the rather hard, cold space, called for lots of warm, inviting and tactile wood to help soften the environment.
'Muckadaymashkikwabu', an Ojibwe word for coffee, provided the main inspiration for the brand and interior design. Working Haida-style inspired murals, a carved oak service counter and geometric lanterns into the coffee shop interior design scheme, the story of Kikiwabu is told. A glass walled retail area with feature coffee bean dispensers create an element of theatre.
Operating initially as a café and shop selling coffee and artisan products, plans are to bring bean roasting in-house in the future and careful consideration was given to this during the design process.
