On a quiet street, off the beaten track in downtown Toronto, Steven Fong Architect has teamed up with design entrepreneur Alan and Lorne Gertner’s lifestyle brand Tokyo Smoke to turn a small gap between two converted warehouse buildings into a coffee shop and showroom. A repurposed shipping container houses the walk-up barista station, with both street-side and interior counters. Throughout the 330sf space, custom-fabricated and appropriated metal shelving holds an ever- changing collection of staple merchandise, one-off curiosities and accessories.
Gracing the garage door, a monochrome mural of kissing figures by Brazilian graffiti artist Alex Senna acts as a metaphor for the shop connecting the adjacent buildings.
all images © Ben Rahn | A-Frame