IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2017 - 14

How an Idea Hatched

Photos by: Jaime Navarro

I DESIGN |

To take a MEXICAN COFFEE AND CHOCOLATE
CAFÉ back to its roots, Esrawe+Cadena sought inspiration in
the country's fertile farmlands.
By | Emily Brooks

T
"

Everything
is inspired
by earth
colors,
the coffee
farms in
Mexico, and
the textures
of leather
and other
textiles
found on
these farms.

"

-Héctor
Esrawe

14

perspective

The colors, sensations, materials,
and aromas of Mexico laid the
groundwork for Esrawe + Cadena's
latest accomplishment: a rebrand and
redesign of gourmet coffee and hot
chocolate company Café Garat.
Relaunched as Tierra Garat in early
2016, the coffee company has opened
a series of shops in Mexico City,
Mexico, including a flagship space in
the upscale Polanco neighborhood.
That flagship has since been honored
as a 2017 IIDA Best Interiors of
Latin America and the Caribbean
competition winner.
Interior design firm Esrawe in
Mexico City and graphics company
Cadena y Asociados Concept Design
in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico
worked together to define the new
brand via the packaging and the
interior design. For each effort,
creativity germinated from the rich
earth in which the coffee plants thrive.

iida.org/perspective

"We worked together on the
concept of the brand, then we took
this one concept to all areas-
interiors and graphics," says Héctor
Esrawe, founder of Esrawe + Cadena.
"Everything is inspired by earth
colors, the coffee farms in Mexico,
and the textures of leather and other
textiles found on these farms."
Clay, for example, is used
extensively throughout the flagship
space, forming the serving counter,
illuminated display areas, flooring,
and a large wall of irregularly sized
panels. The material's natural
variation in tone creates visual
interest in a room that is devoid of
bright color.
"Clay is a local material and a part
of our culture since it has been used
by Mexican artisans in every part of
our country," Esrawe says. "The wall
was one of our first ideas. We knew
from the beginning we wanted to go

for a monomaterial, monochromatic
space, but the wall's function is simply
to give a warm, textured sensation for
visitors-it's all part of a multisensory
experience."
Esrawe is also well known for
its product design, and the simple
but sophisticated furniture was all
custom-designed in-house. The pieces
focus on the concept of traditional
materials made modern, with leatherslung chairs, timber chairs with woven
seats, and tables in richly grained dark
wood. These natural finishes express
both the robust authenticity of the
brand and the experience of tasting
its products.
"We conceived [it as] a very
honest place; that's why we chose all
the materials so carefully," Esrawe
says. "We were aiming for a relaxing
atmosphere where you could almost
taste the earth flavor in the coffee or
the chocolate."
http://www.iida.org/perspective
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2017
