Bouche Saint-Géry: a bespoke end-grain floor

Fotografie: Piet-Albert Goethals

Bouche, Saint-Géry Island 18, 1000 Brussel

How TJIP designed Bouche Saint-Géry around the feeling of drinking coffee

Bouche takes its coffee seriously. Ranked among Europe’s best coffee bars, the brand has built a strong identity that finds a different expression in each location. For Bouche Saint-Géry, TJIP looked beyond the conventions of the contemporary coffee bar, drawing on the warmth and ritual of coffee, the character of Brussels and the way people move through a hospitality space. At the centre of the interior lies an end-grain timber floor, a reference to the cobblestones outside and the backbone of the design.

/Woodstoxx Journal

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Het koffieritueel als vertrekpunt voor het ontwerp

For TJIP, the client is at the heart of every project.There needs to be a connection and mutual trust from the beginning. With Bouche, they found both in founder Antoine. Thomas Meesschaert and Jakob Vyncke are both passionate about coffee and appreciated Bouche’s focus on quality and its attention to the product. Antoine’s vision resonated with them, and they saw an opportunity to carry that same attention into the interior. They wanted the space to carry the feeling they associate with drinking coffee.

“There’s something deeply comforting about the ritual of coffee. We wanted people to experience that same feeling the moment they walked in.”- Thomas Meesschaert

That ambition became inseparable from the location. “We found inspiration in the streets of Brussels itself,” Thomas explains. They looked towards the character of Brussels’ historic cafés, where timber panelling, rich materials and years of use create interiors with a character of it’s own. TJIP took those qualities as a starting point for a contemporary interpretation of Bouche.

Alongside the other materials, timber contributes to the warmth of the space, with its colour and grain complementing the contemporary interior. The red acoustic ceiling draws inspiration from the coffee cherry, while helping to manage noise in the busy café. Belgian bluestone, leather, fabric and large light panels each contribute to the overall design.

The layout is equally considered. A dedicated counter makes ordering straightforward, while a separate tasting table offers a more intimate setting for hand-brewed coffees. For TJIP, how an interior works matters just as much as how it looks.

Bringing the Brussels street inside

The reference to Brussels went beyond its café interiors. TJIP also found inspiration underfoot. The cobblestones that line the streets around Bouche became the starting point for one of the most defining elements in the interior: the floor. That idea connected with an end-grain timber floor Thomas had seen at Fondazione Prada in Milan. Its square blocks offered a natural link to the cobblestones of Brussels.

“The floor became the backbone of the interior.

With another floor, Bouche would have felt completely different.”

Reproducing the cobblestone pattern in natural stone would have made the reference literal. But it would also have worked against the feeling they wanted to create. The material was too cool for an interior centred on the warmth they associate with coffee. End-grain timber offered an answer to both. Individual blocks, separated by visible joints, retained the proportions and rhythm of the cobblestones outside while bringing the warmth of timber underfoot. The material also offered the durability needed in a space with intensive foot traffic.

When the idea requires a custom solution

Having a clear architectural idea did not mean there was a ready-made way to execute it. TJIP came to Woodstoxx with the Fondazione Prada reference and a straightforward question: could we make this work? The end-grain floor in this particular configuration was new territory, so the Woodstoxx team began by investigating what it would take to develop the floor for Bouche.

There was no standard specification to fall back on. The dimensions of the end-grain blocks, the width of the joints, the adhesive, the substrate and the transitions to other materials all had to be worked through. Woodstoxx also consulted external expertise to determine the right approach for the jointing compound. Samples with different finishes allowed TJIP to assess the result before selecting the natural finish used in the project.

Before installing the end-grain timber floor, Woodstoxx first had to prepare the existing subfloor to ensure a suitable base for the solid timber blocks. Woodstoxx’s own installation team bonded the timber blocks directly onto the prepared screed, carefully determining the joint widths to accommodate the natural tolerances of the material. The positions of the integrated entrance mats also had to be established before installation began.

The installation team worked with a larger grid, calculated around the dimensions of the timber blocks and the joint widths. Within that structure, the individual blocks could be positioned with some variation, creating the less uniform appearance TJIP had envisioned. Once installed, the floor required several finishing treatments, each with its own drying time. Woodstoxx coordinated these steps with TJIP and the other contractors to fit the wider construction schedule. The finished floor was then protected while the remaining works continued.

A partnership built on trust

For TJIP, this exchange between design and execution is one of the reasons the studio has worked with Woodstoxx for years. Thomas and Jakob value the technical knowledge within the team, but equally the short line with sales and project management. Questions get discussed directly. Feasibility can be assessed early.

Thomas is equally direct about what happens once work begins. “On every site, mistakes will happen. I don’t mind that. What matters is that they are resolved properly.”

For an interior architect, that is a matter of responsibility. Clients rarely meet the contractor. The studio recommends its partners and puts its own reputation behind that recommendation.

At Bouche Saint-Géry, that relationship allowed an unconventional idea to move from reference to drawing and from drawing to site. What began as a way to bring the Brussels street inside remained intact through technical development and execution.