Populus Café

As our cities bulge and the urban sprawl sees fast-growing outer-suburban municipalities take off, it’s natural that the desire for some inner-city sophistication creates a niche for clever entrepreneurs. It’s a siren-call for Melbourne’s famed café society, by popular demand.

Heeding the call is Populus, a new café in Berwick, in Melbourne’s outer-east, that focusses on community and design – as much as the coffee and food.

It’s the third café that design studio Biasol have designed for their long-term friend and hospitality entrepreneur, Rob Salha, following in the footsteps of Hutch & Co and Little Hugh, that are also enlivening the café scene in Melbourne’s east. Named after the Populus trees that line Berwick’s High street (and, of course, the naturally resultant popularity of the café) this 120-seat venue offers a more sophisticated than its sister venues.

“Populus is the third café we have designed for Rob, and where the previous venues have had simple material and colour schemes, we felt Populus needed a richer, more mature palette,” says creative director, Jean-Pierre Biasol. “We contrasted rose and blush hues against the newest terrazzo release from Fibonacci, called Wolf. These selections, set against the charcoal stained timber, created a sophisticated design that is fresh, and welcoming for the community.”

It was also case of overnight popularity for Wolf as Fibonacci Founder, Michael Karakolis explains. “When Jean-Pierre contacted us to discuss this project, mentioning his desire to use a black-based stone, we could not resist showing him a design we were developing, called Wolf. He immediately saw its potential for the project, and the rest, they say, is history - Wolf was launched before we could even plan it.”

“Wolf is a perfect terrazzo for hospitality projects like Populus, with the expected high-frequency use of wet areas, benches and floors. It has excellent durability and wearability that will only look better over time,” says Michael.