Kaviar Collaborative: Affogato
With Affogato, the traditional idea of a gelato and coffee shop is reimagined into something far more poetic — a subterranean art gallery where texture, form, and material take centre stage. Rather than merely serving consumables, the design treats coffee and gelato as curated art pieces, inviting visitors into a serene, sculptural world.
Inspired by the minimalist galleries tucked away in New York’s Lower East Side, the concept creates a space where the product becomes the exhibition. The design approach was rooted in simplicity: stripping away the unnecessary, allowing a carefully selected palette of materials to speak volumes.
Celebrating Material and Form
The restrained, earthy colour palette plays a crucial role in Affogato's sensory experience. By working within a tight spectrum of neutral tones, the space amplifies its tactile richness — every texture, every curve is allowed to breathe and resonate. This limited palette doesn’t merely fade into the background; it elevates the materiality and accentuates the soft, organic forms that flow through the interior, echoing the swirling motion of gelato itself.
Surfaces are treated with a beige micro-concrete that seamlessly spans the floors, walls, and ceiling. Applied manually with a trowel, the finish retains subtle artisanal marks—a quiet, almost subconscious nod to the creamy folds of gelato. These gentle textures soften the starkness of a monochromatic environment, bringing unexpected warmth and vitality to the minimalist space.
Sculpting the Everyday
At the heart of Affogato’s design is a simple but powerful idea: treating food and drink as art. Like sculptures on plinths, the gelato selections, coffee machines, and consumables are displayed atop a series of stone-clad blocks, allowing each element to stand out with quiet reverence. These counters, carved from natural stone, provide grounding weight and a raw elegance that contrasts beautifully with the smoothness of the surrounding surfaces.
Minimal wooden furniture punctuates the space without disturbing its visual cohesion, adding a final layer of tactile warmth. The sparing use of wood enhances the earthy palette and invites a moment of rest within the gallery-like environment.
A Quiet Drama
The café maintains its bare, almost monastic exterior from the street — a subtle invitation rather than a loud declaration. It’s a strategy borrowed from the hidden galleries of Manhattan: letting the curiosity about what lies within pull visitors inside. Once entered, guests are enveloped in a cocoon of texture and material, where the ritual of choosing a coffee or a scoop of gelato becomes elevated — an experience of artful simplicity.
Affogato is a testament to how thoughtful design, rooted in material honesty and spatial restraint, can transform the everyday into something deeply memorable. Through a symphony of concrete, stone, and wood, and a celebration of natural form and artisanal texture, the space crafts a new kind of encounter — one where taste, touch, and sight intertwine.
Designation: Partners + Principal Architects / Photographer: Syam Sreesylam
