Photography: Unreal Studio
Seoul’s Etcetera Cafe serves up coffee with a hefty side of brutalism, thanks to its stark concrete and glass interiors.
Local designer Jeonghwa Seo created furniture and lighting for the coffee and wine shop, pairing cement counters and columns with metal seating and brass lighting. Materials have been left unfinished, including aluminium tables and stools which feature exposed welding joins.
Rough sections of concrete are dotted about the Seoul cafe, including outside – where an apparently crumbling wall shields a front terrace. Guests can sit on an indoor/outdoor bench, also designed by Seo, that appears to cut through the glass windows that frame the cafe.
And if Seo’s take on brutalism feels a little severe, there are still touches of softness in the coffee shop’s oak tabletops, and set of carefully placed bonsai trees – which adds a dose of nature to the cafe.
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