HBO: NYC TEA BAR POP-UP
DESIGNING A POP-UP CAFE FOR CONVERSATION + CONNECTION
BRAND ACTIVATION | CAFE DESIGN | CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
We partnered with Wieden + Kennedy to help HBO celebrate Women’s Month and showcase its long tradition of telling women’s stories by creating The Inspiration Room a week-long pop-up gallery in New York’s NoHo neighborhood.
As a part of the larger project, we were charged with designing a café space where attendees could meet, connect and reflect on their experience.
Blank journals that guest could use to record their stories were displayed on velvet-lined shelving near one entrance to the tea bar.
Books, turned backward to represent a blank canvas of stories, were interspersed with potted plants in keeping with the space’s theme.
HOW CAN SPACE DESIGN BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER AND FOSTER CONNECTION?
When we began working on the initial concepts for The Inspiration Room, one of the first asks was to incorporate some kind of café into the pop-up art gallery. The idea was to maximize a desire for attendees to feel a sense of belonging with each other to encourage them to stay, record their own stories, and dive deeper into the broad collection of diaries and journals that were to be made available to the public for the first time.
As the clean and bright design direction for the gallery began to develop, we determined the Tea Bar would embrace a fully separate look and feel. We envisioned it as a jewel box of rich colors, textures, and materials, filled with greenery. The intimate space, set apart on a small raised mezzanine, would juxtapose the gallery and evoke a lush garden as a metaphor for growth we all experience from the stories of our lives.
The tea bar itself felt more like part of a library or greenhouse than functional serving space. The area was designed to flex for various programming needs throughout the pop-up’s duration.
Different seating areas were designed and incorporated to encourage quiet reflection, shared conversation, and on-site journaling. There was even a window seat with plush pillows tucked away in a corner. Branded notepads were available on custom displays for participants to take and use.
We designed the space, sourced furniture, lighting and decor, and over saw fabrication of a number of custom pieces in the café, which was also designed to be reconfigured for small events and group discussions in the evenings. Woman-owned, and Portland-based Tea Bar provided tea and small treats daily in the space.
RICH MATERIALS AND TEXTURES DREW PEOPLE INTO THE TEA BAR AND ENCOURAGED THEM TO SIT AND STAY.
A window seat, tucked away at a corner of the space was a popular, comfy location for guests to sit and reflect.
AT-A-GLANCE
CLIENT: HBO
TYPE: Brand Activation + Cafe Pop-up
LOCATION: NoHo, New York City
ACTUALIZATION: Week-long pop-up cafe space within a pop-up art gallery.
PARTNERS: Wieden+Kennedy / M Crown Productions / Tea Bar
OUR ROLE:
Consumer Experience + Journey
Zoning + Merchandising
Graphic Design - Brand Activations + Pop-ups
Space Design + Concepts
Brand Moments + Art Installations
Materials Palettes + Design Direction
Floor Plans + Elevations
Conceptual Sketches + 3D Renderings
Custom FF+E Design
Production Management
Installation Oversight
PROJECT GALLERY
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