Café interior design, Geneva

Luma café & more

An empty corner shop near Cornavin station became a café, cocktail bar and small library. We worked with the owners on the concept, the colours and the materials.

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Octobre 2026

June 2025

Client: Luma café & more
Emplacement: Rue Necker 15, Geneva, near Cornavin station
Concept: Specialty coffee, cocktail bar, library and shop
Espaces: Bar, window tables, library corner, shop wall
Notre rôle: Interior concept, colour palette, material selection and design advice
Chronologie: First visit June 2025, fit-out in autumn 2025
Photographie: Igor Laski

01 · The space

An empty corner with two walls of glass

When we first walked in, in June 2025, there was only the shell: a screed floor, raw plaster walls and a bare ceiling. What the space did have was light. It sits on a street corner, with tall black-framed windows on two sides and an arched niche at the far end.

The owners knew what they wanted it to be: specialty coffee during the day, cocktails in the evening, and a place to sit down with a book.

Drag the handle to see the corner then and now.

Before: the empty corner with its windows on two sides — The corner windows. Site visit in August 2025, and the finished café.

After: the same corner with marble tables, sage chairs and the bar — The corner windows. Site visit in August 2025, and the finished café.

Empty room with raw plaster walls and an open door to the back — The back of the room, June 2025.

Daylight from a tall arched window falling on the bare floor — Daylight from the street, and the niche at the far end.

The arched niche and a long bare wall in the empty shop — The niche that became the library corner.

02 · The idea

One colour, three moods

A café that is also a bar and a library has to feel right at nine in the morning and at nine at night. Rather than split the room into zones with different looks, we gave it one calm colour and let it run through everything.

Sage green goes on the walls, on the glazed tiles of the bar and on the chairs and stools. Black picks up the steel window frames and comes back in the lights, the table bases and the menu rails. Warm light is kept for the bookshelves, so the library corner glows.

Illuminated Luma sign on a sage green wall — The sign, set against the sage wall.

Glazed sage tiles on the window counter — Glazed sage tile, on the bar and the window counter.

Speckled stone bar top above sage tiles — Speckled stone on top, sage tile below.

Four corners, one room

The bar runs along the long wall, which leaves the windows free for the tables. The arched niche became a library corner, and one wall became a small shop.

Select a corner to jump to it.

The barCoffee by day, cocktails by night
The library cornerArmchairs in the arched niche
The window tablesMarble tops along the glass
The shop wallLuma's own pieces, on sage

03 · On site

Then the plan went down on the floor

In August 2025 the layout was marked out on the screed in tape, at full size: the line of the bar, the shelves and the tables. Standing inside the outline is the quickest way to check that a counter is long enough and that there is room to pass behind a chair.

By September the walls were sage and the bar units were going in. In October the counter was tiled. Our visits through those months were about one thing: making sure the colours and materials looked in the room the way they looked on the sample board.

Tape lines on the bare floor marking out the layout, with sunlight across the room — August 2025: the layout marked out in tape.

Tape outline on the floor beside a long bare wall

Sage walls freshly painted, with tools and materials on the floor

Bar units being installed against the sage wall — September 2025: sage on the walls, bar units going in.

June 2025First visitAn empty shell on a street corner.
Summer 2025Concept and coloursOne palette for the café, the bar and the library.
August 2025Layout on the floorThe plan marked out at full size.
Automne 2025Fit-outSage walls, bar units, tiled counter.
Octobre 2026PhotographiéThe finished café, shot by Igor Laski.

04 · The result

A long room that reads as one place

Panorama of Luma café from the window tables to the bar and the library niche — From the window tables, past the bar, to the library corner.

2street fronts of glass

3roles: café, cocktail bar and library

4corners in one room

1colour family, from the walls to the stools

After: the finished bar with its pastry counter and sage stools — The bar. Being tiled in October 2025, and finished.

The bar

A bar in glazed sage tile

The bar runs along the long wall. Its front is clad in glazed sage tile under a speckled stone top, and the stools are the same green, so counter and seating read as one piece.

Above it, the drinks menu sits on black rails fixed straight to the wall. A glass pastry counter closes one end. The same bar serves coffee in the morning and cocktails in the evening.

The full length of the bar with sage stools and the windows beyond

Bottles and a menu stand on the speckled stone bar top

Sage bar stools lined up along the tiled counter

Close view of the bar stools and the stone counter edge

Drinks menu on black wall rails above a shelf of glasses

The library corner

A library in the arched niche

The arched niche at the back was the one feature the empty shop already had. It now holds a wall of white shelves lit from within, with books facing out like a shop window, and an old map of Geneva above.

Two armchairs, a stone side table and a rug make it the quiet end of the café: the place to stay for a second coffee.

Before: the empty arched niche with a door and tape on the floor — The niche. August 2025, and the library it became.

After: backlit bookshelves in the niche with two armchairs and a rug — The niche. August 2025, and the library it became.

Books displayed face out on backlit white shelves

The library niche seen past the end of the bar, with tables by the window

Library corner with armchairs beside the tall street window

Upholstered armchair in the foreground with the bar and tables behind

The window tables

Tables along the glass

The tables keep to the windows, so every seat gets the street and the trees outside. White marble tops on black bases, sage wire chairs, and cushions along the window sill for those who would rather perch. On the glass, a hand-drawn espresso martini says what the evenings are for.

Window tables with white marble tops and sage wire chairs, the bar on the right

Tables in front of a tall window with a tree outside

Espresso martini drawing on the window, with the street beyond

Shop wall with white shelves, a clothing rail and the illuminated Luma sign

The shop wall

A small shop on a sage wall

One wall works as a shop: white shelves, a black rail for Luma's own sweatshirts and caps, and the illuminated sign above. It uses the same colours as the rest of the room, so it looks like part of the café rather than something added on.

Caps, sweatshirts and jars on the shop shelves

The shop wall seen across the stone bar top

05 · The palette

Six choices that hold it together

Colours and materials were the heart of our work on Luma. The list is short on purpose, so a long room with three uses stays calm.

Sage greenWalls, niche and shop wall
Glazed sage tileThe bar front and the window counter
Speckled stoneThe bar top
White marbleEvery table top
Black steelWindow frames, lights, rails and table bases
Warm lightKept for the bookshelves

06 · Working with us

Opening a café, a bar or a shop?

Not every project needs a full design service. For Luma, the owners came to us for the concept, the colours and the materials. This is how that kind of project runs.

Nous visitons l'espace.We listen to how you want the place to work, then measure and photograph it.
We set the conceptOne clear idea for the space, and the colour palette that carries it.
We choose the materialsTiles, stone, paint, furniture finishes and lighting, chosen with you on real samples.
We stay on handSite visits and advice during the works, so the details come out as planned.

Library corner and window tables at Luma café

Need more than that? We also draw every room in 3D, design the joinery and follow the build through to opening day, as we did for Moon Pilates Club in Lausanne.

Parlez-nous de votre espace

Planning a café, bar or shop in Geneva or Vaud? Explore our services de design d’intérieur, or see how we designed Moon Pilates Club from bare walls to opening day.

Planifiez un projet de ce type.

Luma café & more

An empty corner with two walls of glass