The interior architecture firm that brought us Kokako and Citizen Park reveals plans from one of its hottest new projects.

Hannah Feenstra has a heart for her community and a love of good coffee. This passion led her to campaign on Kickstarter for support of opening a cafe in Auckland’s Ellerslie where she had found the perfect site  for community engagement in Michaels Ave, a very strong residential area. The idea was backed by $20,676 of online supporters and a year later the cafe Open Table is set to open its doors.

Hannah turned to Chris Stevens of Ctrl Space (interior architectures of Auckland hotspots Kokako, Eden Cloakroom, Citizen Park, etc) for interior advice to complement her modest design budget.

Focus is on colour and retaining the garage feel of the original 1980s building. An eclectic range of green patterned tiles from Heritage Tiles lines the breeze block walls, anchored by hanging planters of all shapes and sizes.

Due to regulations of building consent, the poorly cracked cement floor has been overlaid with warm-tinted concrete and, much to the dismay of Hannah, the beams in the ceiling were removed.  The building’s original columns have stayed, keeping prominent in a darker grey shade.

Customers will walk in from the Michaels Ave sidewalk and discover a long table designed as sharing space and social engagement that feeds into the open kitchen. Menu offerings will be coffee from Kokako and freshly baked goods from Bread and Butter.

When the doors roll up next month to begin trade, Hannah hopes that Open Table becomes a place that the Ellerslie community can use an extension of home: “like everyone was at a BBQ or street party in someone’s carport”.