Ante

Ante is a coffee shop and bakery in Edinburgh, run by the same people behind the neighbourhood wine bar, Spry. Having designed Spry Wines in 2019, owners Matt and Marzena asked us to help design and renovate the basement unit of the Category A listed shop on Haddington Place.

We sought to create a simple and beautiful space inspired by Scotland’s furniture heritage with subtle references to the wine bar above. Choosing a natural material palette of honey-toned oak and dark blue Caithness stone as a means of reflecting Ante’s ethos of locally sourced and traceable produce. By creating two large openings in the load-bearing basement wall it allowed us to establish a natural customer flow with a central space for the serving counter; formed from oak and topped with Caithness stone, this serving counter was inspired by traditional Scottish dressers and acts as a separating feature between two seating areas.

It was important to us that anyone visiting can experience the skill of the master craftsperson, both in the menu and in the space itself. We worked closely with cabinet-maker James Wright of Sorell Furniture and Helena Robson of HEFT Studio to realise this.


Project Collaborations:

Cabinetry - Sorell Furniture
Cabinetry - HEFT Studio


IG: ante_coffee

Dùn Èideann
Edinburgh

Photography by ZAC + ZAC and Fredrik Frendin