Roof tiles are what gives this cafe in Shanghai a luxury look rich with intrigue. This inspiring choice of surface came from Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design who opted for a novel approach to celebrating Chinese culture at Blue Bottle Coffee.

Located near to the Jing’an Temple, a Tangmi Buddhist temple first built in 247 AD, offering an appreciation and recognition of heritage within the sleek modern building that houses the cafe helps unite the contrasting periods.

Made in the nearby city of Yixing, these traditional curved edge bricks were each handmade with almost 13,000 of them decorating the bar and lounge. To increase their strength a new smoking technique was used that also created the dusty shimmer of their surface.

The rest of the cafe is simply furnished in oak and finished in raw concrete for a clean organic look with a touch of warmth.

A new post by Hanna Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, October 2022.