Montreal-based furniture design and production studio, MDT Mobilier, unveiled its concept for the new Osmo X Marusan café-terrace, formerly known as Café Osmo.
Owners Hideyuki Imaizumi and David Schmidt wanted to change the venue’s vocation and transform the café into a hybrid collective space that serves as a café, bar, boutique, and event space.
Inspired by the space’s brutalist style and historical details, the team preserved the venue’s character through its interior design and furniture. Long, galvanized-steel communal tables at the centre of the space create the desired unifying tone. Running along the angular walls, a brick bench echoes the exposed foundation of the adjacent bicentennial building.
The materials—galvanized steel, brick, and polycarbonate—were chosen for their suitability in a streamlined production process involving little manipulation in order to respect both the limited budget and the minimalist spirit inherent to the modernist style.
Overtime, the reflective quality of galvanized steel, used for most surfaces, tables, counters, and fixtures, will change under the surrounding environment, and will develop a patina to give it a slightly more matte look.
The chairs, which were custom designed for the space, are finished in a sandstone red powder coat to create a link to the bricks in the foundation and bench. The existing base of the service counter, which was retained to avoid wasting material, is overlaid with polycarbonate and dimmable LED strips.
In order to imbue the semi-basement café with a sense of grandeur, the ambience and furniture were designed to keep the focal point low, leaving the large concrete ceiling, with its three skylights, unobstructed.
Technical sheet
Year Built: 2021
Clients: David Schmidt (Fleurs & Cadeaux, Club Pelicano, bar Mal nécessaire, Denise)
Hideyuki Imaizumi (Fleurs & Cadeaux)
Size: interior / exterior
149m² (1600 pi²) / 149m² (1600 pi²)
Interior Design: MDT Mobilier
Mathieu Domingue Trempe, Eliott Légaré
Furniture: MDT Mobilier
Construction: NAT Mobilier Urbain
Photographer: Eliott Légaré
