Upcycled Project: Light Academia Coffee Tray

For my upcycled project, I will create a food and coffee tray for use in a coffee shop, repurposing old books. This design aligns with the light academia aesthetic, which is often reflected in coffee shop decor.

Idea Generation

Principle of Design – Keep it simple yet fun.

First Idea

Coming up with an idea was challenging due to the overwhelming number of designs and objects. Initially, I was drawn to brutalist art so I drew a brutalist-style coffee coaster designed as a miniature two-story structure. The top half would resemble a brutalist prison room with floor vents, while the bottom half would serve as a holder for the coffee cup. The idea played on the concept that the coffee cup would provide heat to the “room.” I also wanted to incorporate humor by contrasting the purely functional nature of brutalism with the often decorative nature of coasters.
ARTIFOX Monument iPhone Stand - Natural

However, I ultimately discarded this idea because I am fascinated with brutalist concrete structures an due to their seemingly obvious dark and depressing feeling which often directly contradicts the style around it, therefore, I only wanted to do a concrete piece.  This style would have required concrete pouring—turning it more into an art piece than a functional object. It also didn’t quite fit the aesthetic direction I wanted to pursue.

Geisel Library at the University of California San Diego
Second & Third Ideas

Still drawn to brutalism, I considered making an acoustic guitar wall mount, inspired by the shape of a brutalist building I saw in a reference image. This led me to a third idea: a concrete brutalist bedside holder for a phone, wallet, and keys. The humor lay in applying a stark, architectural style to an everyday object. However, this idea also felt forced and I realized I was unwilling to move off concrete as a material rather than focusing on the overall purpose of the project. As It didn’t fully align with the prompt, I moved on.

Side View of Guitar at White Display Wall
Final Design

After some frustration, I decided to abandon the brutalist theme altogether. Looking around my room, I noticed an old Lord of the Rings hardcover book, which reminded me of my fascination with hidden compartments in repurposed books and behind pieces of art. I had several boxes of old books set for recycling, making them a perfect material choice.

For aesthetics, I revisited the class aesthetic reviews in post #1 and came across dark academia. Bookshelves and vintage books fit into the light academia aesthetic, making it a fitting direction. I returned to the idea of a coffee-related item and settled on a mini tray designed to hold coffee, tea, and small items typically served in a coffee shop.  I tried to envision a barista handing someone a coffee and pastry on top of a repurposed book tray and imagined the raised eyebrow look it would likely illicit before they decided whether they loved or hated the design.


I ran my initial post through ChatGPT in order to fix different tones and fix grammar structure errors.  I went back and changed most of the rewrite because AI still sounds strangely non-human at times.

 

Photo Credits

(1)  Sarah Mirth, Artifox.  2020.  https://theartifox.com/products/monument-stand-natural

(2) Thomas De Weaver.  https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/brutalist-architecture-101

(3) 2009. Janericloebe. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Batterie_Heerenduin_2.JPG

(4) 2023. Comezora. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/side-view-of-guitar-at-white-display-wall-royalty-free-image/1763950374

(5) David Malan. 2010. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/book-with-house-in-cut-out-compartment-royalty-free-image/103129964?adppopup=true

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