Machine

When our daughter Tala was just under 2, we used to play coffee shop every night before bed. She’d make us pretend coffee (best coffee I’ve ever had — 10/10), and when we asked the name of her coffee shop, she instantly said "MACHINE." No hesitation.

I’m sure that came from our coffee shop dates and explanations of how coffee is made using an espresso machine. The name stuck, and I knew if we ever opened our own space, that’d be my first shout.

Lately my partner and I have been talking about a fully manual cafe — where everything, from grinding to brewing, is done by hand. A human machine, I guess. A slow service — and that’s the point. Because where the hell are we rushing to all the time?

With a couple free hours I cooked up this visual identity. Who knows, maybe Tala can one day brew real coffee at MACHINE, just as well as she did the pretend one.