Slow Roast

Where the 1st arrondissement meets the Louvre, specialty coffee brand Noir has recently opened its newest outpost in the capital. Founded in 2020 by Martin Gunther and Guillaume Paillot de Montabert, Noir resists what they have described as the “copy-paste café phenomenon with the same furniture, same menu, same vibe.” For them, a café is a lieu de vie – a space woven into the everyday fabric of the city; an integral part of its human dynamics. 

For this space on Rue de Marengo, they turned to Paris-based studio, MK Idées, which began its design journey in Saint-Ouen, at Noir’s roastery. It was not the coffee itself that inspired the design but its transformation – the heat of the machinery, the shift from green bean to roasted brown, the steam and sensory drama of the process. Rather than recreating a roastery in miniature, MK Idées set out to translate that alchemy into architecture.

The result is a study in warmth and material depth. The counter is wrapped in smoked brass by De Castelli, its finish evoking metal transformed by heat, while the seating area is set against sculptural volumes layered in ALPI California Burl veneer, their organic grain recalling drifting smoke. Deep green banquettes offset the tobacco-toned palette, and underfoot, chequered tiles in earthy shades create a subtle reference to woven textiles.

The café’s proximity to the legendary museum that is the Louvre is quietly acknowledged. A second architectural skin stands in front of the existing stone walls, parting at intervals to reveal a bas-relief dedicated to coffee cultivation, carved by the Italian workshop of Affiliati and conceived as a contemporary archaeological fragment. Behind the espresso machine, a mirror crossed by three horizontal lines of light captures rising steam, while floor-to-ceiling high glazed façades open entirely onto the street, allowing the café’s aromas to drift onto the pavement outside in warmer months.

What passes across the counter completes the circle back to Saint-Ouen, where master roaster Erwan Alson oversees micro-lots sourced directly from individual plots and small farms – single origins that have ranged from a washed Kenyan lot grown by the Ngiriambu cooperative in Kirinyaga County, to fruit-forward Ethiopian varietals on filter. At the bar, these translate into espresso, flat whites and filter brews, joined by matcha, seasonal lattes and a short edit of pastries.