Today, to further add to Melbourne’s recent cross-cultural coffee news archive, I introduce to you Everyday Coffee at MPavilion!
A project initiated by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation with support from the city of Melbourne and the Victorian State Government, MPavilion is a temporary architectural commission in Queen Victoria Gardens in the Southbank Arts Precinct, with a goal of creating a meeting place and a location for a program that will run for four months from October to February, full of workshops, talks, installations, and a full-time pop-up café from the folks at Everyday Coffee.
Naomi Milgrom is the head of the Sussan Group, a multi-million dollar women’s fashion retail empire in Australia. As the chair of her new not-for-profit organisation, Milgrom has clear goals for the venture: “The Foundation champions projects that explore design’s close interconnection with contemporary culture. In doing so it seeks to create new public and private partnerships in the civic space.”
Inside MPavilion, Everyday Coffee–a progressive multi-roaster in Collingwood–has taken over one slim side of the space, serving delicious espresso and batch-brewed coffee, alongside sweets from their flagship on Johnston Street, with guest appearances from special suppliers like All Day Donuts, Bakewell and Co, and Cobb Lane Bakery.
The structure, designed by Sean Godsell, is the first of four to be developed over the coming years, and is unique to behold. When closed, it’s a neat silver box in the middle of a green landscape bordering the city—when open, it’s an exposed, multi-faceted form, with the metal barricading flying up and into the sky at multiple angles. It’s a space that opens up and lets nature in, while also somehow fitting in with the sky-high buildings of the cityscape across the water.
Kicking off just in time for summer, MPavilion will be bringing art, discussions, performances, workshops, and zumba classes (no, really) to the Queen Victoria Gardens, while Everyday Coffee brings the coffee, food, and sweet tunes for all the sunny days to come. If you want to check out this outdoor coffee and social experience for yourself, the MPavilion will be us October through February run, with a full calendar of events to be found on their website.
Eileen P. Kenny is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in Melbourne. Read more Eileen P. Kenny on Sprudge.
All photos by Eileen P. Kenny for Sprudge.com
