Buzzing Down Under: Hearth Designs Market Lane Coffee Shop In Melbourne

Snapshot: Market Lane Coffee and Hearth Studios led by director Sarah Trotter, team up for the second time in Melbourne, Australia, to design a bright glowing space that celebrates the art of making coffee.

Once upon a time, coffee was just a drink you got at your local deli in the morning - a necessary shot of energy to start your day. Now, however, in the age of the barista, coffee is an experience full of visual and aromatic stimulation. That’s why when designing the new Market Lane Coffee Shop in Melbourne, locally based design group, Hearth, decided to “create a unique space in the market, one that was open and clear unlike the other spaces in the hall, so that it would really shine.” Explained Trotter.

The shop, located at the Dairy Hall in the Queen Victoria Market, is the second collaboration by Hearth with Market Lane Coffee. The design of the space is inspired and informed by the shell of the corner stall - a space that had been occupied by a pharmacy for the past 40 years. The old and new materials used for the shop: ornate nickel, Carrera marble, American Oak timber, and black 2pac, deliberately work together to create a certain textural play, “allowing some elements to stand out and others to recede.”

The corner location of the shop is unique in that it allows for the entire space to be perceived. None of the main elements of the coffee shop are against the wall, therefore, the connection between the consumer and the product is never obstructed. The ceiling is free of all other objects other than the bright fluorescents that drip light over the warm American oak and sleek old tiles of the interior

The beautiful simplicity of this carefully curated market stall is both warm and inviting. The thoughtful combination of the old and the new design elements would make any coffee drinker, young or old, feel right at home.

Photography courtesy of Hearth.