Icaria
Retail Concept & Brand Environment Design
Brand concept development and spatial design for three retail locations of a Mexico City coffee chain and library brand — from market research through digital renders and custom furniture prototyping.
Brand Design · Interior Architecture · Retail Strategy · Spatial Design
The Brief
Icaria is a Mexico City brand combining a specialty coffee experience with a curated library and bookshop concept. The challenge was to develop a cohesive brand environment across three distinct locations — each with different spatial constraints — while maintaining a consistent identity and customer experience.
Research & Strategy
The project began with market and user research: mapping the competitive landscape of Mexico City's café and cultural retail scene, identifying the target consumer's values and behaviors, and defining the experiential principles that would guide every design decision. The research shaped both the brand's spatial identity and the sequencing of the customer journey through each location.
Design & Execution
The spatial concept centered on the idea of productive comfort — an environment that felt warm and personal enough to stay in for hours, but organized and purposeful enough to support work, reading, and focused time. Material choices, lighting, furniture scale, and circulation paths were all calibrated to that experience.
I produced digital renders and VR walkthroughs for each location to allow the client to experience the proposed atmosphere before construction, and designed and prototyped three custom furniture pieces — selecting materials aligned with the brand's positioning between craft and contemporary minimalism.
My Role
Co-lead designer. Responsible for market research, concept development, spatial design across three locations, digital renders, VR walkthroughs, and custom furniture design and prototyping. February–June 2023, Mexico City.