Locally owned cafe and roaster, Flat Track Coffee, was founded in 2012 with its first small shop and a separate roastery. They quickly outgrew their original location and had hopes to find a space big enough to bring their roasting and coffee shop into one. In 2015, they found it. This new spot shares its building with a bicycle mechanic and retailer, Cycleast, on a bustling East Austin street. Its neighbor, a popular gas station and its main exterior wall filled with a beloved Selena mural. Perfect.

Working with the bones of the building and the neighborhood, LSID and Flat Track wanted to highlight the industrial nature of the space with the clients’ passions. Ranging from a passion for roasting coffee to riding motorcycles and BMX. Now sharing their space with a bicycle shop, their old clientele was also quickly merging with new groups of passionate cyclists. The space was thoughtfully designed to highlight exquisite coffee without intimidating their community.

It should feel lived in, appreciated and always there for you. Lilianne and the owners built out the 1500 square foot shop together slowly while a pop- up coffee cart served their clients until the opening date. One of the owners, Sterling Roberts, fabricated all of the wood and steel for the furniture and built-ins per designs drawn out with Lilianne. Hand-wired light fixtures branch from steel tracks and hang over the counters and crisp paint lines of contrasting charcoal and white highlight wall edges and shadows.

A parked motorcycle framed by flourishing plants and old vintage gas cans, makes for the perfect instagram set. Art by local artists, LAND, vintage canisters and old schoolhouse chairs fill the main sitting area. The roasting area is found in the back with a small counter winding around it. A thoughtful mix of perforated and flat stock sheet steel with stained oak tops makes for a sleek work area without closing the connection to the community in the space.

Design: Lilianne Steckel Interior Design
Photography: Andrea Calo