Tinderbox Expresso Bar

Situated in London’s buzzy Upper Street in Islington N1, this ambitious project involved a complete fit-out of a 200sq meter space from a crèche to a trendy coffee bar.

Designed on two levels, the ground floor ‘kiosk’ space served takeaway orders while the first floor was the main coffee shop.

The challenge was to link the ‘kiosk’ area to the main coffee shop. We did this by removing walls, doing away with the dark, closed in staircase and cladding them with light timber strips while incorporating a clever lighting scheme.

The design brief was to create a wide range of seating experiences to embrace a host of different uses. We created low headroom booths, long communal tables suitable for meetings as well as raised, individual seating for laptop users.

Bespoke light fittings such as the ‘coffee cup’ shades helped to create a unique look and an environment which attracted interest and intrigue both inside as well as from street level.