This Ukrainian Café is Designed as an Inviting Cup of Coffee

Kofan is a chain of all-day cafés in central Ukraine’s Kremenchuk offering wartime respite along with everything from pancakes and bubble tea to cocktails and tuna tataki. The latest outpost, and the third by Makhno Studio, focuses on third-wave coffee, which inspired the design team to devise a monochromatic palette throughout its 460 square feet that’s akin to being nestled inside a cappuccino cup. “It’s a tranquil haven,” founder and architect Serhii Makhno says. Walls and ceiling are coated in pigmented plaster, crimped to evoke swirling layers of espresso foam, and flooring is latte-toned oak planks. Wood changes to a paler café au lait ash for the custom tables and chairs, but pendant fixtures by Makhno, who’s also a ceramicist, are more of a dark-roast black. There are contributions from other fellow Ukrainians, too: The feature wall by Kelsis references vyshyvanka, an embroidery pattern thought to ward off evil, through plastered MDF, while, outside, a pair of soldierlike sculptures in weathered steel by Yevhen Prymachenko act, Makhno adds, like “symbolic watchtowers.”