Just as an image can speak volumes, the interior of a space reveals who it serves and what it values. Observing the growing homogenisation of Amsterdam’s new hospitality scene, I explored how issues such as loneliness and community are increasingly overlooked.

Using visual semiotics, I examine the traditional brown café as an antidote to this cultural drift, in contrast to cold, concrete, and steel interiors designed for fleeting, image-driven consumption. For food-led magazine Toothsome, I unpack how the brown café’s unappealing name and worn aesthetic may in fact represent the shift in taste and togetherness we need.