Kuppi Coffee Company

Kuppi Coffee Company, a popular New Jersey coffee shop, is expanding across the river. Their second location, a modest 350sf space designed by Brooklyn-based firm commoncraft, is situated along the vibrant St. Marks Place in New York City's East Village. Employing a range of rough and raw materials, commoncraft’s design of Kuppi Café seeks out the beauty in imperfection.Upon entering the café, patrons are immediately enveloped by a distressed concrete plaster enclosure that seamlessly curves up the walls and onto the ceiling, wrapping and defining the front-of-house of the café. The corner of the space is anchored by a worn bluish plaster wall, its whitewashed finish slowly peeling away. Within the distressed concrete enclosure, a selection of elements define zones based on their varying materiality. The service counter and seating bench are clad in reddish terracotta bricks, stacked vertically in a rowlock course to expose their core & mortar "guts".  Each terracotta volume is terminated by a course of cut bricks, further revealing the rough, imperfect cores. A stainless steel display shelf is inserted into the corner of the bluish plaster wall - a faint “Kuppi” logo wrapping the wall above.  The material honesty of the space is further reinforced by a number of small details; floating stainless steel shelves, a freestanding glass splash guard, and delicate concrete pendant lights.

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Collaborators — LTI Construction Corp, Alan Schwartz
Photography — Andrew Fu