Sleek, sexy and guaranteed to get you going – that’s the Cape Town concept store and café Tribe112, from Tribe Coffee Roasting. The selling point of this collaborative venture is two-fold. Firstly, you’ve got some serious coffee expertise provided by the Tribe brand. Tribe is all about the African beans, championing the varieties from the southern region of the continent to ensure their roasts are always as fresh as possible. They’d been looking at opening a new outlet – something a bit special – and everything clicked into gear after a meeting with the chaps at Donford BMW Motorrad.
The bike experts also wanted to give their new showroom an extra dimension, and this joint operation at The Studios on Buitengracht Street is the result – a retail space for BMW motorcycles and bike gear stylishly combined with a Tribe coffee shop. The interior was designed by Tribe’s Jake Easton and Michelle Trimborn, and employs a raw industrial look which integrates with the showroom through the use of upcycled engine parts. There’s a couple of 1200cc Boxer engines that can enjoy the easy life as supports for a glass table, and the pendant light fittings are also made from mechanical parts. The starts of the show, however, are the gleaming bikes themselves. I can feel a mid-life crisis coming on…
