CAFE DE MELBOURNE – 2015

Custom cafe signage painted & installed
https://www.facebook.com/CafedeMelbourne
193 Church St, Toronto, Ontario

This quaint little authentic coffee shop located just south of Dundas on Church St wanted a hand-painted sign to keep with their authentic feel. Inside the establishment, the owner strived to keep everything truly unique, creating an authentic handcrafted feeling. Nothing in there is what you might call “manufactured”.  Due to the way the storefront is situated on the sidewalk and because the sign hangs around 14 feet high, their sign is visible from a long way down the street. No matter if you are traveling north or south on Church St.

The owner needed a new logo for his sign. He had some ideas but not the finished product. What we did in this situation like we do in any other situation like this, is to locate the exact need of the client in terms of design work, then we decide whether who should do the designing, we have a variety of designers in-house and some freelancers that we use. We chose to use a designer that does freelance work for us, this was important because the cafe really needed a dedicated designer to get the exact feel right.

There was already an existing sign up from the previous owners. The plan was to repurpose that sign to be the coffee shop sign. This meant we had to retrieve the sign down from where it was fastened before we could reuse the existing wooden sign that was there.

After the design was completed we painted the sign back at our studio, we prepped the sign by sanding the surface for a new coat of paint. First, we used a very strong primer, the primer is very important for the paint to adhere well. After the priming was complete and dry, we put down a few different base colors. When deciding what colors to paint first you have to plan out what will be the best way to utilize the upcoming stencil, this is because the stencil has many layers and very intricate. For some of the painting we used an airbrush to get a gradient of colors, the airbrush was needed for the background where different shapes butted up against each shape had different gradations.

This sign took around a week because it’s critical to let the paint completely dry after each coat. This is partly because when peeling the vinyl stencil you have to be careful not to lift the previous layer of paint, sometimes the paint has not fully cured and you can literally lift of that layer of paint when removing the stencil. On this sign, we applied a very high-quality clear coat, the sort that you might find used primarily for cars. The reason we used this product was for its excellent ability to not yellow over time and withstand the elements for a very long time. Unfortunately, many lesser quality clear coats will yellow over time and so it’s important to use the right product to get the desired result for years to come.

CAFÉ DE MELBOURNE

COFFEE SHOP

Café de Melbourne is a great hang out for coffee lovers. The shop indulges all kind of people from all walks of life and allows for interactions with others. Get your espresso just the way you like it from café de Melbourne. Years of experience have taught us the tools of the trade, and our coffee just keeps getting better. Get your best cup of coffee yet from café de Melbourne that is on Church Street in Toronto. You get waiter services, you have access to street packing, and you can also take away your coffee.

OWNER HISTORY

The owner Johnson moved to Australia in 1988 on a whim. When he arrived, he made his first stop in a café. He was dismayed by the choices of coffee presented to him, and that experience began his journey with coffee which then became his life’s work. Ten years went by fast, and when his wife took a job in Melbourne, he realized he still had little knowledge about coffee.

With an affiliation to Melbourne that gets credit for having the best baristas and roasters in the world, his curiosity about coffee grew. After the year that followed, he uprooted his family again back to the US only visiting Canada from time to time. During the visits to and from Canada, they made a habit of stopping at Freeport where they later settled.

The move from Melbourne to the US was challenging for him because he had grown to love the coffee. In the US he struggled to look for good coffee that would hit the spot like Melbourne coffee in vain. He then decided to train and learn all about coffee from Melbourne baristas. It took a year of dedication and a year trying to quench the thirst for good coffee.

After the studies, it took another year to find the best spot to launch and grow his new baby café de Melbourne. After the search, he finally found the perfect place in Toronto and became totally taken by the idea of having café de Melbourne in Toronto.

COFFEE PRACTICES OF MELBOURNE

Melbourne is the world’s leading coffee town that has the best in coffee practices, brands, roasters, and lessons. The best baristas and roasters will give classes on the art of brewing quality coffee. Melbourne has been a trendsetter in the world of coffee. Anyone who has tried a Melbourne espresso, latte or macchiato, their coffee experience and taste will never be the same again. Once you go Melbourne coffee, you never go back to sub-standard coffee.