Studio/ JIALUN XIONG continues to explore duality and restraint, this time for a coffee shop for Nick Kim’s apparel, accessories, and homeware line, Archives Of Us. Located between Los Angeles’s Chinatown and Downtown, the cafe is sited on the second floor of a building. The shop favors monochromatic materials: stained black ash wood, off-white leather upholstery, and brushed metal accents. Eschewing excess and decor, the design favors material precision and minimalism for a sleek, considered interior.

The brief was simple: to create an environment that diverges from the typical aesthetic of local coffee shops. Although the existing architecture was ordinary, a 2,300-square-foot, white-walled and concrete space, the design team brought it to life by emphasizing a pared-back style.

The material palette was chosen based on the way each responds to light: The former absorbs while the latter two reflect. These materials, and the furniture created from them, are the anchors of the small space. The furniture stems from the studio’s own line, particularly the Kaleidoscope and Building Blocks collections. The Kaleidoscope dining chairs, for instance, blend subtle curvature with the sleek stainless steel legs, emphasizing the duality of its leather and boucle materiality. The Dwell, Side Table is also used, contributing a boxy, almost Brutalist geometry. A series of self-weighted, swing-arm task lamps in brushed stainless steel are positioned along a long counter table and add soft, diffused lighting. All furniture and fixtures are sculptural and geometric, playing with lightness or a sense of the monolithic.

Together, the design forms a serene environment by day and a sleek, futuristic space in the evening. “We wanted to create an environment that feels like a sanctuary,” said the studio’s founder, Jialun Xiong. “This cafe stays open until midnight, and as night falls, the lighting shifts to enhance a moodier atmosphere, pushing it to its fullest potential. At first, people might feel that the environment is too exposed and unsettling, but as they spend more time in the space, they may begin to appreciate the moment of stillness and reflection it offers—where every element corresponds, contrasts, and reveals something new.”