A “Café Sonja” ensemble comprising two tables and eight benches,

designed by PostlerFerguson * (Martin Postler - Jan Ferguson) in 2011, manufactured in the workshops of the V & A Museum in London, black coated and laser cut MDF, plug connections, black nylon strings, the benches partly with black felt covering, the tabletops decorated with randomly arranged small (9) and large (11) tiles covered with gold foil, all parts with gold embossed inscription: CAFÉ SONJA, tables: height 74.5 cm, 80 x 81 cm, benches: height 44 cm, 67 x 40 cm. (DR) Provenance: interior furnishing, Café Sonja, 1020 Vienna, the temporary meeting point during the Vienna Design Week 2011. Following an invitation of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, the London-based team PostlerFerguson conceived the pop-up place “Café Sonja”. The entire interior was manufactured by PostlerFerguson in the workshops of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, where the two team members were designers-in-residence at the time. Moreover, they faced the challenge of conceiving the whole system in such a way that it could be shipped to Vienna on the plane as ordinary baggage packed in only a few boxes. PostlerFerguson’s café was designed entirely in black. Gold coloured wall panelling covered with NASA foil created a contrast to the matt black furniture. “The traditional Viennese café draws its unique atmosphere from the arrangement of materials, the opulent lighting, the simple and casual menu and finally the customers, who create a warm and inviting atmosphere. We aim to transform these unique design properties into a simplified, contemporary and stylish space. We reduce the opulent material world of the traditional café to a modern and elegant array of graphics, material, and shapes and apply it to the rough space of Café Sonja. To create a strong identity of the café for its short lifespan, we aim to develop a simple, but bold identity kit, which we can use to brand a variety of items, media and the space itself by stencilling, using laser-cuts or stickers. The identity represents the traditional design language of the Viennese café and moves it into more stylish “pop” context”. (PostlerFerguson)

Specialist: Dr. Gerti Draxler