Project Team
Design: Cloud Nine Design
Contractor: Huntwood Constructions
Suppliers
Joinery and banquette seating: Capital Design Works
Custom Furniture: Huntwood Constructions
Tables and Chairs: PGR Furniture
Wire chairs, drum tables: Matt Blatt
Slider retail display system: Mei and Picchi
Perforated acoustic ceiling: Décor Systems
String curtain: Simple Studio
Chandelier, tall and low stools: Café Culture
LED lighting: Superlights
Tiles: Earp Brothers
Photography – Alex Donnini
Located in the former bistro of the Grand Hotel on the Princes Highway in Rockdale, Boschetto, pronounced “Boss-ketto” brings urban cool to the suburb of Rockdale. The café has been designed by Cloud Nine Design to be a comfortable place to gather for a coffee or a wholesome meal. A variety of seating arrangements have been incorporated from simple stools with a drum table to grab a quick coffee, to bespoke tables and chairs. Together with a communal table for 10, banquette seating forming booths, mobile tables to sit at the open windows to the street to watch the world go by and delicate wire framed chairs with floral cushions and low coffee tables.
Café Boschetto has benefitted from being the only coffee outlet in the area to sell Campos Coffee which has become a huge draw card for their quality blends. This has helped make the café a hit with local office workers, passing trades people and mum with prams.
The interior has been completely stripped back except for retaining the impressive art deco cornice which is highlighted with dimmable LED lighting. A once echoing space has been tempered with a decorative American walnut effect perforated acoustic ceiling which has been quite a talking point, together with the Ornametrica chandelier imported from Sweden and supplied by Café Culture. The timber floor has been finished with the latest technology from Dulux and sports a matt black slip resistant finish.
The theme is eclectic, rustic and warm. Boschetto is Italian for wood; hence the references in the space, in both imagery of cut logs behind the Barista and recycled timber salvaged from the back of house works being used in the custom furniture. This timber has been used for the communal table, retail display screen and the two mobile tables. Lumber yard saws used as decorative elements were the owners.
The space can also double as a venue for drinks parties and other gatherings with the facility to conceal the servery area with a decorative string curtain supplied and installed by Simple Studio.
In the competitive market of the coffee shop industry a strong retail edge has been employed to the coffee servery area with plenty of opportunity to display products for sale that are used in the café, ingredients for dishes, breads, oils and teas. A proprietary system, ‘Slider’ from Mei and Picchi was used for the servery back fitting which has plenty of flexibility through the life of the café. The café benefited from the skills of a visual merchandiser who styled the retail displays.