Though a mix of 19th and midcentury industrial structures characterize the rich backdrop of New York’s historic Long Island City, an ever-increasing demand for modernity and style are shifting community culture and its needs. Despite its wealth of past-meets-present locales, husband and wife team Chip Brian and Nina Sisselman envisioned something more. “The neighborhood had easy access to everything we needed for our growing businesses,” explains Brian, co-founder with Mike Daddio of residential contracting and design firms Design Development NYC and Neue Atelier, “except for really good coffee.”
When Sisselman noticed a vacant space on the ground floor of Brian and Daddio’s office building, she conceived of the Mill, an independently owned coffee shop aligned with the growing trend toward local-centric culture. “Nina wanted to give everyone in the neighborhood a place to stop for coffee and community—a ‘third place,’” says Brian, that is not work or home. Serving as the Mill’s creative director, Sisselman enlisted the help of Brian and Daddio’s teams—which offer clients contracting and custom millwork services along with architecture and design services—to consummate her industrial-chic coffee shop vision.
“Given the compact space and full wall of windows, we worked to create a galley layout that would allow for ‘milling about,’ comfortable seating—including a banquette that doubles as storage area—and efficient service.” Hand-lettered chalkboards, enameled metal pendant lights, and solid wood pedestal tables trimmed in blackened steel instill a sense of relaxed sophistication and balance in the small java-lover’s paradise. Savvy design elements, including a gliding bathroom door to save space and clerestory windows to invoke more natural light, help to ensure serviceability and client comfort.
An eclectic mélange of traditional and industrial materials were gathered, including rough-hewn planks and white porcelain subway tiles for the walls, to sustainably create a space reflecting the neighborhood. Additionally, wooden machinery cogs sit in the windows in homage to the city’s heritage and coffee’s propensity for creative inspiration. “When you can make something that’s stylish and sustainable too, why not do it?” explains Brian. The contracting company’s local workshops provided wood remnants that make up the counter front, adorned with neighborhood logos and faces, and Brian’s woodworking and furniture-making shop, Bespoke Millwork, provided project vestiges for his idea to install wall collages of local imagery. “All the textures blend together without overwhelming each other,” Brian says, “like the flavors in a really good cup of coffee.”
