Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’d be more than familiar with the explosion of cool matcha café’s but there’s a good reason for it. The trendy green beverage is more than just an Instagram fad, this traditional Japanese ceremonial drink has 137 times more antioxidants than regularly brewed green tea and tastes delicious to boot. It’s this combination that inspired entrepreneur and wellness expert, Geraldine Ridaura to launch Holy Matcha cafe located in the east village neighborhood of downtown San Diego.
But aside from the flavored drinks, we’re positively smitten with the dynamic design of this millennial pink cafe that makes use of some of our favorite materials—we see you custom pink terrazzo. Ridaura worked with Susan and Ben Work, founders of the lauded San Francisco-based architectural firm HOMEWORK on the elevated yet minimalist design.
Due to its diminutive footprint (it’s 720 square feet), the designers nixed the use of traditional cafe tables and chairs (which takes up square footage) and instead designed free-form stadium seating which hugs the walls and maximizes the usable area of the cafe by utilizing the great ceiling height and growing vertically. This layout encourages cafe-goers to hang out in a myriad of ways.
This cafe is set to become an Instagram sensation. Take the tour and plan a trip to San Diego asap.
The space is rich and warm but because of the minimal amount of materials and colors, it is not overwhelming to the senses. “We chose to use the highly durable commercial application of terrazzo as a finish throughout so that we could customize the color to the Holy Matcha brand and manipulate its form to create a continuous surface that becomes seating, flooring and the bar,” says Work.
The pink terrazzo was all custom-made for the space and really makes a stylish impact.
Work says the custom wall mural by Eskayel was a crucial element to the design in complementing the architectural language and features. “It was important that this mural didn’t compete in any way but rather support the design,” Work says. “In working with this textile designer, we were able to control the color palette to complement the soothing, monochromatic theme of the interior architecture while still adding a lot of visual interest, and ultimately create the illusion of a much larger space.”
Their intention for the cafe was to create a soothing and stimulating vibe, much like matcha itself. “We wanted to honor the brand but give it a unique personality, edge, and an evolved look from the first location as a response to our lifestyle, culture, and times it is being shaped by,” says Work.
For each project, no matter the aesthetic style, Work make it their goal to transform every interior into something they can see ourselves inhabiting. “That makes each project surprisingly fun and super interesting,” says Work. “Our adaptability is our favorite ‘signature.'”
Since pink is the signature of the Holy Matcha brand, they used it as a design feature instead of a color to be paired with. “The entire space is monochromatically pink, with no complementary or secondary colors as in the first location,” says Work. “As a result creates a very soothing, minimalist vibe.”
The pink palette is offset with the spot of greenery above the bar.
Everything is kept very simple and streamlined with built-in shelves and racks in the walls.
Their favorite part about the space is the built-in stadium seating that is integrated into the architecture. “Since this feature hugs the walls, it frees up so much usable space in the café,” they say.
Even the doorway to the back is pink. It has almost a 1950s diner vibe with the neon sign.
There is a viral Instagram frame everywhere you look.
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