Pacific Caffé
Store Design and Branding
Livermore and Lafayette, CA

Pacific Caffé is unique in that it is the only West-coast café franchise that has partnered with Illy, Italy's premiere coffee maker and retailer. Illy not only sells the coffee beans to Pacific Caffé but it also supplies and maintains the equipment used to brew coffee and make espresso. To mark this unique collaboration, it was the objective of Pacific Caffé's executives to brand the cafés to reflect European design and sensibility, to differentiate from the competition and to become a world-class provider of coffee. According to Pacific Caffé, the stores' design should make world travelers feel at home while offering fresh and modern surroundings.

With this in mind, Huntsman's design team came up with a bright and colorful palette that would incorporate Illy's brand while defining Pacific Caffé's individuality. The palette consists of a black and white color scheme with key architectural elements in the brand's red. The two stores, which range from 1,100 to 1,400 square feet, feature black stone tile floors that are patterned to break-up the rectilinear footprint and to direct traffic from the entrance to the service counter. In lieu of the dark wood counters and tabletops typically used in cafés, white solid surfacing provides a clean and light environment. On the countertops, red translucent glass panels add vibrance to this neutral palette and reinforce the brand image.

Architectural elements create a dramatic effect and add color in key areas of the stores. A custom red wall displays Illy products from whole coffee beans to the famous Illy commemorative cups. Illy has issued the series of decorative café ware since 1992 to "unite the pleasure of a perfect espresso with the aesthetics of a work of art." Pacific Caffé envisioned a window in the display wall, so the designers incorporated a cube niche to feature the collection of cups and saucers. The display wall extends into a canopy over the cafes' seating area. Opposite the display wall, a red upholstered bench sits within a recessed wall outfitted in cappuccino and cream-colored glass round tiles.

Completion Date: August 2005
Size: 2,500sf

photography by Jeremy Jachym