The matcha craze has reached pretty much every self-discerning city on the planet, including Amsterdam. Here, a sleek design-led shop and parlour opened its doors, created by entrepreneurs Yulia Nikitina, Valeriia Arsonova and Kristina Khananeina. Situated in De Pijp, a lively residential area just south of the Dutch capital’s scenic Canal District, the LERA shop occupies a 122 sqm. (1,313 sq.ft.) unit on the ground floor of a five-storey residential building erected in the early 1990s. The interior design, created by architect Ekaterina Shcheblykina of Berlin-based practice air.atelier, is all about understatement, functionality, and last but not least, engaging shoppers. The setting is anchored by a soft green epoxy/acrylic counter with a stainless steel top and built-in glass cabinets, and a matching backdrop.
Mind you, LERA‘s two automated touch screens anticipate its target demographic’s savvy digital lifestyle, offering shoppers a highly convenient ordering procedure. Directly opposite, a pentagonal low bench is paired with a decorative wall-mounted ornament crafted from shiny metal, in addition to a similarly shaped communal table paired with chunky stainless steel stools. LERA‘s coveted matcha products are presented on tiered wall-mounted steel shelves, but even more prominently on two semi-circular shelving units at the back of the store, right next to the fitting room, also fittingly clad in metal. The LERA shop stocks ceremonial grade matcha from Uji, a town just south of Kyoto, and a similar quality matcha from Kagoshima. Additionally, the menus lists matcha-infused beverages, obviously, ditto pastries, and even matcha skincare products. © superfuture
LERA
Ferdinand Bolstraat 146 (De Pijp)
1072LS Amsterdam
Daily 9am-5pm
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
