The corporate café bar seen from the side, with a marble backsplash, coffee station and lit upper shelves

Case study · Financial services · Manhattan

A workplace café for a Manhattan financial institution

A newly built oak-and-marble café and hospitality bar. The millwork was beautiful, and the room still felt architectural rather than welcoming.

The brief

Turn the café and conference hospitality bar into a gathering space with real hospitality: somewhere the team would actually use every day, and that clients would remember.

Clear glassware and amber sculptural vessel arranged on illuminated open shelving
Ribbed glassware and hand-blown amber glass under the shelf light.

The curation

Working alongside Benhar Office Interiors and AnnSandra, Marisa layered the illuminated oak shelving with rhythmic rows of slate-blue stoneware mugs, ribbed glassware, hand-blown amber glass vessels, wooden pedestals and New York monographs, including 50 Years of New York.

The curation, object by object

Everything on these shelves was chosen.

Hover or tap a number to see what Marisa placed on the shelves, and why. Click to pin it.

Corporate café bar in Manhattan with illuminated oak shelving, glassware, stoneware and amber vessels
Pinned
  1. 1
    Hand-blown amber glass

    Sculptural vessels in smoked amber, the one warm accent against oak and marble.

  2. 2
    Tall glassware

    Slim glasses set in a single rhythmic row along the lit shelf.

  3. 3
    Slate-blue stoneware

    Matte mugs lined up along the shelf, everyday and handsome.

  4. 4
    Turned wood pedestals

    Wooden forms that vary the height of the top shelf.

  5. 5
    Glass cloches on monographs

    Raised glass forms over a stack of books.

  6. 6
    Stemless wine glasses

    Rounded glasses for the after-hours side of a hospitality bar.

1Amber glass on 50 Years of New York
2Tall glassware
3Slate-blue stoneware
4Turned wood pedestals
5Glass cloches on books
6Stemless wine glasses
Daily utility for the team, and five-star hospitality when clients are in the building.

The result

An executive-ready workplace amenity that balances the team’s everyday routine with the polish of a hotel bar, styled and installed on site.

Amber glass vessel on a New York book beside blue ceramic mugs
Amber glass vessel on a New York book beside blue ceramic mugs
Client
Financial institution, Manhattan
Partners
Benhar Office Interiors, AnnSandra, Blondie’s Treehouse
Scope
Open-shelf curation, glassware and ceramic program, art books and sculptural vessels, on-site installation
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