Melbourne Design Cafés — Where Coffee Becomes Architecture
- AMPM
- Jul 16
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 15
Morning light on a terracotta café counter.
Melbourne: a mosaic city with ever-shifting faces, where creativity seeps into the folds of everyday life. In its studio-like neighborhoods, cafés and design ateliers blend into one another, driven by the common desire to transform detail into stagecraft, silence into breath, and aesthetics into function.
Here, coffee is never just a ritual: it’s an architectural language, a sensory script. Behind every facade, a space is conceived, designed, embodied. Volumes are sculpted with as much precision as the aromas of an espresso. Light dances on materials, revealing textures, contrasts, narratives.
Four cafés, four atmospheres. Good Measure, Prior, Via Porta, and Bentwood. Each in its own way redefines the café as a space of emotion, grounding, and aesthetic awakening: an essence that lies at the heart of Melbourne design cafés.
Good Measure – Carlton
193 Lygon Street, Carlton 3053
Mon - Thu : 8:00am - 11:00pm Fri - Sat : 8:00am - 1:00am Sun : 8:00am - 11:00pm
As you step past the elegant façade of Good Measure, the influence of Japanese cafés becomes immediately palpable. The space, laid out like a neighbourhood living room, is wrapped in warm lacquered wood and bathed in soft, filtered light. Large bay windows, hanging plants, and vintage furniture create a quiet setting where one can settle in with a book or a laptop: everything is designed to slow the pace.
In the morning, guests sit peacefully near the windows, surrounded by the gentle murmur of hushed conversations. The Mont Blanc is the go-to order: a filter coffee by Code Black topped with whipped cream, freshly grated nutmeg, and a twist of orange zest. The light timber flooring and the soft crackle of vinyl in the background make the experience feel almost cinematic.
As the sun begins to dip, the atmosphere transforms: the lighting turns golden, subtle highlights sculpt the room, and the bar (framed by a structured timber surround) becomes the central focus. The minimalist morning mood gives way to a cocoon-like evening setting: house-made cocktails, sake, a curated list of 21 local craft beers, and the espresso machine still humming until 8 p.m., gently extending the day’s last conversations.
A hybrid, narrative-driven space: every moment of the day is expressed through its volumes, its lighting, its materials, and its rituals: exactly the kind of place your editorial eye is drawn to.
Prior – Thornbury
637 High Street, Thornbury 3071
Mon - Fri : 7:00am - 3:30pm Sat - Sun : 8:00am - 3:30pm @priorthornbury
Prior occupies a former Art Deco printworks and unfolds into a vast, white-vaulted space with an almost industrial presence. Cream-coloured bricks, laid in a refined stack bond pattern, run across the floor and up the walls, flowing all the way to the central bar: a monolithic block of pigmented concrete resting on a base of the same material. A mineral symphony in perfect harmony.
Tall timber beams, painted white, remain exposed, drawing the eye upward and accentuating the verticality of the space. Black-framed windows frame the scene, letting in a crisp, generous morning light: a kind of forest-like breath: raw, textured, but soothing.
A thoughtful detail: the communal tables and banquettes are custom-designed in blackbutt wood and natural leather, striking a balance between utilitarian sophistication and inviting warmth. At the heart of the space, a circular hearth set atop a brick plinth offers its quiet ritual of heat: for brisk mornings or casual brunches shared among friends.
This minimalist rhythm, paired with a paddock-to-plate philosophy led by former Maha chef Nick Korceba, is lived with understated elegance. Every portion, every bite, mirrors the architectural and sensory clarity of the space.
Via Porta – Mont Albert
https://www.viaporta.com.au 677 Whitehorse Road, Mont Albert 3127 Mon - Wed : 7:00 - 3:00pm
Thu : 7:00am - 3:00pm — 5:30pm - 9:00pm Fri : 7:00am - 3:00pm — 5:30pm - 10:00pm Sat : 08:00am - 3:00pm — 5:30pm - 10:00pm Sun : 08:00am - 3:00pm
@viaporta
From the moment you cross the threshold, you step into a microcosm of Italy: a curved bar in Golden Cappuccino marble, trimmed with polished brass and fluted timber panelling, sets a stage that feels both solemn and welcoming. The eye is immediately drawn to the artisanal “crazy paving” marble floor (hand-laid by the Cosentino brothers themselves) a textured, irregular surface evoking the cobbled backstreets of Rome. Tactile, imperfect, alive.
You move forward, a Syynesso espresso in hand, its powerful aroma blending with hints of olive oil and balsamic vinegar rising from the shelves. On the right, minimalist wooden shelving showcases organic oils, antipasti and cheeses: living still-lifes from a transalpine journey. The custom-built sage green banquettes invite you to sit and linger, facing the bar. Above, a small mezzanine or Juliet balcony adds a romantic note, quietly promising moments of shared time or solitary pause.
As the day progresses, natural light deepens, revealing the raw textures of the plastered walls in contrast with the polished marble and honed concrete. In the evening (from Thursday to Saturday), the space becomes more intimate: light is directed toward terracotta jars, golden reflections dance on the brass fixtures: the perfect scene for an Italian aperitivo, perhaps with a glass of Céndré or a classic spritz, as if in a quiet Milanese alleyway.
Bentwood – Fitzroy 237 Napier Street, Fitzroy
Mon - Fri : 7:00am - 3:00pm Sat - Sun : 07:30am - 4:00pm @bentwoodfitzroy
A soft halo of light filters through the café’s wide glass panes, housed in what was once a Thonet furniture showroom. The Eastside brick paving stretches seamlessly into the adjoining laneway, blurring the line between interior and street. Weathered red brick walls, still bearing traces of peeling paint, suggest a tactile, almost storied history.
You settle into a Blackbutt leather bench, an iconic Thonet No. 18 chair, or a high stool at the counter — each seat offering a quiet vantage point to observe the space. Overhead, the ceiling is composed like a ritual: a “red oxide” steel grid that fractures the light into precise, rhythmic shadows.
A barista delicately pours latte art; steam rises and mingles with the complex scent of roasted coffee: sometimes inviting, sometimes austere. In hushed tones, the past is quietly recalled: once the CF Rojo & Sons workshop, later a Thonet showroom. Now, the original patina remains : repurposed as both backdrop and source of inspiration.
As the day fades, spotlights dissolve into grazing light. Leather deepens, brick glows warmer, and the steel ceiling grid fractures like an industrial night sky. A perfect retreat for a visual brunch, captured in the early light or as evening sets in: a space that feels at once calming, stimulating, and quietly evocative.
Soft light over leather bench and wood textures.
From Carlton to Fitzroy, these cafés offer far more than a brunch scene or a caffeine fix. They embody a culture: one that blends craftsmanship, simplicity, and vision. A culture that places the visual, the sensory, and the emotional at the heart of every gesture, every material, every pause. Through each space, Melbourne design cafés reveal how architecture, coffee, and atmosphere merge into one seamless experience: where creativity becomes place, and place becomes ritual.
At Good Measure, timber and light compose a cinematic duet. At Prior, brick and concrete speak in hushed dialogue. At Via Porta, Roman paving stones whisper memories of childhood. At Bentwood, industrial heritage is shaped into a contemporary refuge.
In each of these spaces, we slow down, we breathe, we observe. We absorb. Design here isn’t just decorative: it becomes narrative. And perhaps, that’s the true beauty of a café in Melbourne.
Credits : Good Measure, Prior, Via Porta, Bentowood, AMPM READ
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