“Frank” Café

Kyiv, Ukraine

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“Frank” Café

Kyiv, Ukraine

Firm

Yana Molodykh

Type

Hospitality + Sport › Restaurant

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2025

SIZE

0 sqft - 1000 sqft

Project name: Frank
Design: Yana Molodykh
Location: Kyiv (UA)
Sector: Café
Square: 19 m² / 205 ft²
Year: 2025
Photo: Yevhenii Avramenko

Customer

The customer wanted to refresh the interior of the coffee shop, which had not been changed for 9 years, since its opening. The main wish of the customer was to create an interior that would not look new, so to speak a bit "shabby", but at the same time would have some chic notes, like in stylish Milanese bars.

He is a young man who loves animals and constantly rescues and rehomes homeless ones (the photo shows his dog Bulka, which he adopted as a puppy from a shelter), he really loves coffee and knows a lot about it (he has another coffee shop, which I renovated a few years ago), he plays sports, is a former football player, and together with his friends/football players, he opened the men's concept store Antology (guess who designed it:), he also started a bakery/pastry shop, and the baked goods from it are sold not only in his own coffee shops, but also in other venues across Kyiv.

His coffee shops have long become iconic places that people deliberately visit in the morning before work to enjoy a proper cup of coffee. So, the design of the coffee shop was meant to be not only beautiful, but also subtle enough not to scare off regular customers with drastic changes, because there is nothing sweeter in our rapidly changing and stressful life than holding on to traditions and rituals, which now create a foundation of stability and reconnect us with a past that felt happy and magical compared to the present.

«We've been using coffee beans from the Kyiv-based roaster Cafeboutique since the day one, and we also bring in coffee from various European roasters.» – that’s what the customer says about his coffee.

Design

The layout remained unchanged, since with only 19 square meters, there’s not much room for modifications.

At the beginning of the project, we were tasked with integrating coffee machines and a bunch of other tools owned by the owner to create the most delicious coffee in town. We designed holes in the stone countertop for these items, and the customer also worked separately on the barista's work area with furniture contractors.
My favorite items are the Luna pendant lights designed by Gio Ponti.
In general, when I create an interior, I always come up with a story. As for the coffee shop, I imagined the following story: “What if Gio Ponti came to Kyiv? What chair would he sit on, what kind of coffee would he order? Why would he end up in this coffee shop?

Because he would visit the round covered market of the Kyiv modernism era by architect Alla Anishchenko, the geometric shapes in the decoration of which are so similar to the geometric shapes that Gio Ponti himself, one of the symbols and key figures of Italian modernism, loved to use.

Materials

The most effective material was stainless steel. I was abroad on a business trip, so the customer recorded the renovation moments and sent them to me in the chat, and when I received a video of the process of removing the protective film and the childlike delight of the builders at the incredible beauty of the light reflection and the red color of the steel walls - I was also incredibly and unexpectedly impressed by the effect that really resembled the Northern Lights.

In the main hall, the floor is Mutina tiles. We left the glass blocks, only changing the countertop to a marble one. The walls are painted with French Argile paint. We additionally coated the red color with glossy lacquer to create even more radiance.

The ceiling and skirting boards are made of stainless steel. The ceiling and cornices made of steel visually expanded the small space. I witnessed it myself when a client came in after the renovation and asked: 'Did you move the walls?

We separated the corridor with a striped C&C Milano fabric, which I saw in the showroom at Milano Design Days and brought with me to Kyiv in a suitcase. We retained the wooden countertops, simply replacing the mounting system with new supports.

The sconce and the lamp above the bar table are Lampe Gras. The metal bar stools are vintage, covered with Misia Paris fabric. Famous photo of a bodybuilder is by a photographer Sergey Melnichenko. Picture is Zorom Helo.

We kept the old plumbing fixtures at bathroom, replaced the tiles on the floor and walls, painted the walls and the ceiling and sewed a “skirt” to hide the cleaning bucket.

Colors

We kept the brick and only highlighted the walls with exposed brick in a matte smoky blue color, while the walls covered with drywall were painted in a glossy berry red. Thus, we separated and highlighted the barista work area and kept the area for the visitors in muted colors and muted lighting.

Result

When I showed on Instagram in stories that we were going to renovate a coffee shop, people started writing to me in private messages “we do love our “Frank”, leave it the way we are used to it”.

I called the customer and said “Zhenya, people want to live in the good old days, cling to memories of the pre-war past, let's leave the glass blocks people are used to, and I will use the tiles that we bought for decoration in another project”.

And that's exactly what happened. Everyone was happy with the result. My satisfied customer and the number of visitors increased after the renovation.

I am proud that in 19 sq m I created a whole story that is interesting to read between the lines. Photo captions for the rooms: furniture brands, lighting, finishing materials.

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“Frank” Café

Kyiv, Ukraine

“Frank” Café

Kyiv, Ukraine

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team