One of my favorite places to get coffee in Salt Lake City is Nobrow Coffee and Tea. Not only is Joe the owner a total coffee nerd, he happens to be a design nerd too. So when I heard that they were moving to a new location designed by Atlas Architects I was quite excited. When I found out my friend Jaren from Modern Union was doing the interior cabinetry and woodworking I was even more excited. 

This Wednesday was their first official day open (even though the Visual Supply Co crew dropped by earlier during Alt) so I decided to meet Jaren there for a pour over and check it out. 

The space is quite a bit smaller than their old location, which surprised me. Personally I think it's a good thing, although I know some people enjoyed being able to find a nice private corner in the old space. There is a really great little courtyard in front that will make a fantastic outdoor space in the summer. In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and say if you are looking to sit out side in the summertime and have a cup of coffee, you won't be able to find a better spot.

While I was there we ran into Jason Foster of Atlas Architects. No real surprise considering their office is going in next door. Speaking of Atlas, they've done a really nice job with some of the subtle details of the building. The most obvious thing is the material pallet. The building is made of a cinder block with a smooth sawn face that has some nice flecks of color in it. 

It's a great look, but combined with the concrete floors and bright white Corian countertops it can be very hard and cold. To balance this there is a good amount of reclaimed wood in the space. The wood is some reclaimed beams that used to be in Trolley Square, a local trolley station turned mall. It's beautiful, warm, and really brings the space together.

To add even more interest to the space there is a beautiful (and rumor has it very heavy) section of an upright piano that is bolted to a wood face in a small nook at the end of the room. That combined with some nice industrial style pendants round out the simple, yet fantastic interior.

Nobrow Coffee & Tea - 179 W 900 S SLC, UT

Atlas Architects

Modern Union

As I type this post, I'm riding shotgun in a  truck on my way down to southern Utah to a Buddhist Retreat. No, I'm not having another dramatic change of faith, I'm actually going to install cabinetry. The retreat was designed by a local firm Imbue design that continues to impress me with both the quality and caliper of work they are doing. The rendering above doesn't do justice to just how cool this project is. The exterior is dominated by gabion walls and the interior wrapped in Ipe. In fact even the cabinets I'm installing with Modern Union are made of Ipe. I'm excited to be working with such great architects and clients on this job. 

I'm about 4 hours away from the job site right now. Check out the Modern Union Facebook page for pictures and updates. 

Modern Union

Imbue Design

Also, while you are at it, make sure you read the write up that City Home Collective did on the Buddhist retreat a few weeks ago.

Ever since I posted about the vintage cage lights a while ago, I have been interested in making my own modern pendant light.  A lot of the parts are pretty standard, but it seemed to me that the cloth lamp cord was the chance to really make it into something amazing. I felt pretty lucky to have found out about Sundial, but a lot of their good cloth lamp cords were either sold out, or I was seeing bigger companies like Best Made use them. After a lot of searching around I was able to find a source for some fresh looking colorful cloth cord. I whipped up a few test pendants and shot some pictures of the results.

What does everyone think?

More available for sale (custom lengths etc) on my Modern Union Etsy shop.

Plus you can see some of the other colors I have on this listing here.