For café owners, setting up a shop in Singapore is a challenge mainly because there are already a lot of competitors and take note, the competition they offer is not just about who gets more customers. It’s also about who has the best café design, which is one of the reasons why interior designers are big in Singapore these days.
However, even if the café owner gets the services of a designer, he will still need to decide for himself what the theme of the shop should be. What elements does he want in the café? What does he want his customers to perceive? For those who haven’t got the answers to those questions just yet, we have listed here some possible inspirations for a café design.
The Basics of Café Design in Singapore
Now let’s stress this this fact – designing a café in Singapore is not just like how one designs a café anywhere else in the world. For a café design to really fit in, it has t to embody two of the values Singaporeans are known for – quality and endurance. Listed here are tips on how café owners can achieve those:
- Do not scrimp on furniture pieces. Just like the coffee and the food that will be served, the place should also scream quality and elegance. Anyway, that does not mean that the furniture pieces have to be expensive. There are a lot in the market that are not big commercial brands, but offer the same quality as the more costly counterparts. It is just really a matter of shopping around so they know their options.
- Take time. Just like a good brew, you cannot rush café design. For one to come up with the best possible ideas and shop around for the best supplies for his shop at a reasonable cost, he basically needs to allot time, patience, and effort for it.
- The design should speak about the owner. Do not employ a design simply because it is the trend, because chances are, everybody’s already doing it. Café owners should try to be unique as much as possible. The only way to do that is to make it about themselves. Who knows, theirs just might become the new trend!
Café Design Inspirations
Now, for those who are still at a loss as to what their café design should be, a trick is to mix and match current trends and check which ones will complement the owner’s tastes. Do not be afraid if the preferred designs clash – there is always a way to work around, but yes make sure to find that way.
So, here goes… a list of some café design inspirations that café owners can choose from:
- Make it feel like home. The entire café interior can be made to look like a series of living rooms – sofa with cozy pillows, a couple or so bean bags or butterfly chairs, plus a coffee table. Repeat on all the other nooks and corners of the area. There could also be a touch of romance by adding a centerpiece of flowers and candles on each coffee table. For the studious, fill the walls with shelves upon shelves of books, and dividers that also serve as bookshelves.
- Make it feel like the sun has just risen all day long. Simple white walls with basic brown wood paneling teemed with bright yellow and blue furnishings will work. Put some potted plants for a touch of life, then load up on lots of day and natural light.
- Go vintage. Pop in every old item, signage, memorabilia that has ever been collected, and partner that with some classy earth-colored cups and utensils. Mood lighting can also help. A word of note – there is no need for them to be authentic vintage. There are always suppliers stocking on furniture pieces that can pass off as vintage looking.
- Check out a school house’s interiors. You can also draw inspiration from classroom designs. Coat the café walls in chalkboard paint. Use blackboard or white board signs around the café. You can even present the menu on chalkboard. Put alphabets, shapes and numbers posters in all the strategic points inside the café and ring that school bell for when a fresh brew is done for a customer.
- Go glam. Get a classy looking café by splashing on soft metallic touches on a pastel colored wall, ideally on the ceiling as well as on the windows. Prop on an elegant chandelier and a grand bouquet, which can be an intricately designed flowering plant, as the centerpiece on every table or right smack on the heart of the café. All these should be in blushing, light colors only.
The only time the color is supposed to be really full on is with the chairs. Choose those in lipstick red with dark brown, brown, or even gold edges. One can also lace all the coffee tables with gold trimming.
- How about an outdoor themed café? Once the customer enters the café, voila! They get to enter into a sort of secret garden with pavilions where they can enjoy their coffee and books. One can even get real chirping birds in cages to amp the atmosphere. Domed roofing, with part or the whole made of glass, should complete the outdoor feeling in the café.
- Make the café look like a science laboratory. Instead of conventional coffee cups, serve brews on test tubes and flasks conveniently placed on racks to avoid them from spilling out. You can also use metallic trays to hold the food, and put around operating tables as coffee tables!
- When all else fails, draw inspiration from a favorite movie. How about a Harry Potter-themed café? Alice in Wonderland, the Avengers, or let’s get extreme – James Bond, Fast and Furious, or Fifty Shades of Grey themed cafes! Sounds fancy, right? Though many café owners have already employed this design, this should not stop others from trying these themes as well.
Now that you are aware of some of the best designs for café, you can start designing your own and impress your customers with your creativity.