STEAMPUNK CAFE
Derived from the minds of two well known makers and artists in the Steampunk Community; ModVic and Joey Marsocci of Grymm Studios, the brainstorming for the Steampunk Café began to take shape. Both artist have their own take on Steampunk form and function and once worked together for many years. With Joey's ability to create and fabricate ideas into shape, design and color, simple pencil sketches were turned into full concept renders over a matter of many months. These renders were created using Adobe Photoshop.
The concept renders were focused on very specific viewpoints of the café, both inside and out, and details were very specific to be consistent in the overall look and feel of the space. Renders take us from the exterior of the Steampunk Café and all the way though to the detailed barista counter with stops in-between to admire the artwork and custom built features of this unique space. Some of the features that adorn the café are a mysterious portal doorway, humming with energy as you pass through, an automaton espresso machine made of vintage coffee maker parts, a steampunk micro-phish, a steampunk tower called “The Caffeinated Heart” that dispenses milk, cream, and sugar, and a central time vortex contraption built from a vintage coffee grinder and various other parts which is all connected to a large centralized time piece. This is the controller for the time machine. So how does it all work, you ask?
The concept renders were focused on very specific viewpoints of the café, both inside and out, and details were very specific to be consistent in the overall look and feel of the space. Renders take us from the exterior of the Steampunk Café and all the way though to the detailed barista counter with stops in-between to admire the artwork and custom built features of this unique space. Some of the features that adorn the café are a mysterious portal doorway, humming with energy as you pass through, an automaton espresso machine made of vintage coffee maker parts, a steampunk micro-phish, a steampunk tower called “The Caffeinated Heart” that dispenses milk, cream, and sugar, and a central time vortex contraption built from a vintage coffee grinder and various other parts which is all connected to a large centralized time piece. This is the controller for the time machine. So how does it all work, you ask?
THE INSPIRATION:
The Steampunk Café was an accumulation of many late nights and conversations over coffee. Ideas from an elaborate scientific coffee laboratory to an alternate speak-easy coffee/tea house were discussed, but one idea seemed to jump out to us... Time travel. Throughout history, the idea of traveling through time has fascinated and intrigued mankind. Whether it be through the scientific journals of some of the most brilliant minds of all time, the pages of literature, or on the silver screen, time travel has been woven into our self-conscious and given us fantastic ideas to answer the question; “What if we could travel through time?” From Einstein's theories, to the creative minds of HG Welles and Mark Twain, ideas about how, where, when, and why have accumulated into creative notions that there is a possibility.
With that inspiration, one common thought has been the launching point of these queries: building a time machine. Iconic contraptions have fueled our imaginations over the years, a simple British Police Call Box, an elegant Victorian machine with a crystal powered engine, or a sleek sports car powered by plutonium to name a few. The inspiration for the Steampunk Café was derived as a fusion between H.G Welles novel “The Time Machine” and Robert Zemeckis' & Bob Gale's film “Back to the Future”, then given an original steampunk design and story.
THE STORY:
In the late 1890's an eccentric scientist (and caffeine enthusiast) turned his small street-front laboratory into a working time machine. The entire structure of the building was a huge time conductor, allowing the space between the walls and foundation to travel through time from that spot and only into the past. Through his various experimentation traveling throughout our history, by a freak accident involving a lightning storm, the scientist finds himself hurtling 300 years into the future. Amazed by the advancement in technology, the scientist quickly learns how to enhance his own time machine. With the invention of recycling and reusable energy, he works to incorporate the time circuits of his machine to run on coffee grounds, thereby powering his entire time machine. This trip to the future would unknowingly be his last, as the scientist returns to his own time period and continues to experiment but once again, only able to travel to the past.
In order to expedite his experimentation to find a way back to the future, the scientist transforms his laboratory into a simple coffee shop. Utilizing the coffee grinds used by daily patrons, to fuel his time machine experiments by night. As time moves forward, one day the café lights grow dim and the scientist is never heard from again. The café lies dormant until the year 2017 when the now boarded up building is revealed to be the scientific wonder that it holds inside. Volumes of old notebooks and an old micro-phish machine tell of the wonders the time machine one held, and so the café is re-opened once again as a tribute to the scientist who created it. His photos, notes, and journals are displayed for all to read, and interactive kinetic inventions are on display for patrons to discover
The time machine's functionality is still a mystery to it's new owners, however they have regained some of it's functionality. The caffeine generator is still in tact and it would seem that when the barista's insert coffee grounds into the machine, it activates two tower gauges on either side of the grinder mechanism; (One tower is for decaf, one for caffeinated). When both gauges reach full capacity the entire café is initiated into a time sequence. The lights flicker and become erratic, the clock begins to spin forward or back, the doorway portal begins to light up and make sound, the automaton springs to life and begins a count down of dates in time. We hear distinct sounds echoing from different periods of time, and the front windows of the café frost over to reveal time speeding by outside allowing patrons to view either the past or future we are passing through at lightning speed. The time travel sequence lasts for 1 minute, then all returns back to normal and we are returned in our present time period. It would seem that the doorway portal allows us to stay tethered to our own time period in case of accidental travel, so patrons visit without fear of ending up in the wrong time.
The excitement and experience of traveling through time brings patrons in from far and wide to be there when the random time experiment happens, and as they are participating by drinking coffee and fueling the machine, you never know when you will be in the right place at the right time!
This project was created for a private company in Saudi Arabia.
The Steampunk Café was an accumulation of many late nights and conversations over coffee. Ideas from an elaborate scientific coffee laboratory to an alternate speak-easy coffee/tea house were discussed, but one idea seemed to jump out to us... Time travel. Throughout history, the idea of traveling through time has fascinated and intrigued mankind. Whether it be through the scientific journals of some of the most brilliant minds of all time, the pages of literature, or on the silver screen, time travel has been woven into our self-conscious and given us fantastic ideas to answer the question; “What if we could travel through time?” From Einstein's theories, to the creative minds of HG Welles and Mark Twain, ideas about how, where, when, and why have accumulated into creative notions that there is a possibility.
With that inspiration, one common thought has been the launching point of these queries: building a time machine. Iconic contraptions have fueled our imaginations over the years, a simple British Police Call Box, an elegant Victorian machine with a crystal powered engine, or a sleek sports car powered by plutonium to name a few. The inspiration for the Steampunk Café was derived as a fusion between H.G Welles novel “The Time Machine” and Robert Zemeckis' & Bob Gale's film “Back to the Future”, then given an original steampunk design and story.
THE STORY:
In the late 1890's an eccentric scientist (and caffeine enthusiast) turned his small street-front laboratory into a working time machine. The entire structure of the building was a huge time conductor, allowing the space between the walls and foundation to travel through time from that spot and only into the past. Through his various experimentation traveling throughout our history, by a freak accident involving a lightning storm, the scientist finds himself hurtling 300 years into the future. Amazed by the advancement in technology, the scientist quickly learns how to enhance his own time machine. With the invention of recycling and reusable energy, he works to incorporate the time circuits of his machine to run on coffee grounds, thereby powering his entire time machine. This trip to the future would unknowingly be his last, as the scientist returns to his own time period and continues to experiment but once again, only able to travel to the past.
In order to expedite his experimentation to find a way back to the future, the scientist transforms his laboratory into a simple coffee shop. Utilizing the coffee grinds used by daily patrons, to fuel his time machine experiments by night. As time moves forward, one day the café lights grow dim and the scientist is never heard from again. The café lies dormant until the year 2017 when the now boarded up building is revealed to be the scientific wonder that it holds inside. Volumes of old notebooks and an old micro-phish machine tell of the wonders the time machine one held, and so the café is re-opened once again as a tribute to the scientist who created it. His photos, notes, and journals are displayed for all to read, and interactive kinetic inventions are on display for patrons to discover
The time machine's functionality is still a mystery to it's new owners, however they have regained some of it's functionality. The caffeine generator is still in tact and it would seem that when the barista's insert coffee grounds into the machine, it activates two tower gauges on either side of the grinder mechanism; (One tower is for decaf, one for caffeinated). When both gauges reach full capacity the entire café is initiated into a time sequence. The lights flicker and become erratic, the clock begins to spin forward or back, the doorway portal begins to light up and make sound, the automaton springs to life and begins a count down of dates in time. We hear distinct sounds echoing from different periods of time, and the front windows of the café frost over to reveal time speeding by outside allowing patrons to view either the past or future we are passing through at lightning speed. The time travel sequence lasts for 1 minute, then all returns back to normal and we are returned in our present time period. It would seem that the doorway portal allows us to stay tethered to our own time period in case of accidental travel, so patrons visit without fear of ending up in the wrong time.
The excitement and experience of traveling through time brings patrons in from far and wide to be there when the random time experiment happens, and as they are participating by drinking coffee and fueling the machine, you never know when you will be in the right place at the right time!
This project was created for a private company in Saudi Arabia.