Bone: Reimagining Function Through Context And Culture

Since it was founded in early 2018, Bone Studio has remained a two-person practice. Coming from complementary frameworks of architecture and interior design, the duo prefers to remain invisible, allowing their work to be recognised for itself. A keen sense of collaboration prevails throughout their projects across the UAE, where clients become family and craftsmen become teachers.

Bone’s interest lies in approaching each project with the intention of confronting form-finding and social interactions to deliver something out of the ordinary. The approach allows these spaces to adapt, add, shed, or even change their program or activity without impacting social dynamic nor the build. The result is a growing clique of projects across the UAE that whilst maintaining the cultural and social qualities of their predecessors, look and feel like no other.

Through the lens of the sanctum that is the café, Downtown Design spotlights Bone’s mastery of design as a tool for storytelling.

Air Speciality Coffee │Jumeirah, Dubai

Embodying a ‘light’ ambiance, this homegrown coffee bar encompasses a clean, contemporary, and minimal design aesthetic – animated with vertical and horizontal volumes that makes the space feel bigger than it is. Designed to encourage conversations between friends, strangers, and the barista, the parallelly located coffee bar and seating banquette create a spatial narrative that is enriched with saffron suede leather upholstery and diffused mood lighting. Brushed steel and black metal accents layer the look whilst keeping to the overall minimal aesthetic.

Hoof Café│Ras Al Khaimah

A ‘brutalist reinterpretation of countryside equine architecture’ Hoof Café abstracts the autonomous aspects of stables and using it as the architectural driver, delivers a very directional approach that brings together two of Middle Eastern culture’s great passions – coffee and horses. The café features a sparsely furnished space with tactile materiality, muted hues and natural finishes that play an integral role in defining its sensorial architecture.

La Petite │Al Ain, Abu Dhabi

Inspired by Al Ain’s landscape and desert typology is a comfortable and inviting space that challenges our usual notions of café design. With its dramatic volume, the coffee bar is expressed as a functional, monolithic sculpture that takes centre stage. Furnished with mineral plasters in artisanal finishes, soft linens, and table lamps made of clay, La Petite removes the hard-line between interior and exterior spaces with oversized, bi-fold glass doors and theatrical lighting to create a beautiful and illuminated setting.   

To explore more of Bone’s innovative projects, click here.