Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 197

5th Bandung Creative Movement International Conference on Creative Industries 2018 (5th BCM 2018)

The Aesthetic Study of Eclectic Interior Design:

A Case Study of Mimiti and One Eighty Coffee
Shop Bandung
Dea Aulia Widyaevan 1,* Setiamurti Rahardjo2,
12
Creative Industry Faculty, Design Interior Department, Telkom University

Abstract. Eclectic style has become a trend in contemporary interior

design. This style has been achieved through a fusion or assimilation of
style. Those cross-fusion has become a character of the contemporary
interior which aesthetic defines on the pluralism as a result of modern
critics. However, to identify the eclectic style in the interior needs an
aesthetic understanding of how the basic design principle is applied to
create such fusion. This paper aims to study about how eclectic style has
been achieved from two coffee shop in Bandung. These coffee shops have
been chosen due to its popularity and positive testimony of design in social
media. Based on public testimony, the coffee shop design has met a
standard of ' contemporary interior design ' which represents a high- end
urban style. Also, their location is attached to heritages neighborhood. So
the study will compare and examined the application of design principle in
each of eclectic style to seek a method of aesthetic fusion in interior
styling To find the result, the research using qualitative ways by literature
and theoretical reviews to identify the elements of interior and their
eclectic approaches.
Keywords: Eclecic style, contemporary interior design, principle of
design, Coffee Shop design

1 Introduction
Eclectic style has become a worldwide trend in the contemporary interior design,
not only in cafes but other typology as well. In Indonesia, this eclectic style has
widely spread as ‘contemporary’ style in regards of urban culture, especially in
commercial space as cafes and restaurant. This style follows the rule of eclecticism
which combines multiple styles in terms of style in periodic characters, geographical
history, landscape characters or communal lifestyles. The principle of eclecticism in an
application of interior styling relates to complex conditions, not only became a referral to
its architectural character but also represent the intangible aspect of interior design such as
brand identity, historical location also lifestyle phenomena. The lifestyles of urban
societies socializing in cafes are made a profit making opportunity for business people by
creating cafes with unique concepts. Lifestyle like this increasingly lifted with the social

*
Corresponding author: widyaevan@gmail.com

Copyright © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

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This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 197

media where urban people vying to show off their lifestyle by showing their hangout
location, what they do, what they eat, and with whom they gather through social media [1]
The growing of coffee shop in Bandung creates many opportunities for design
experimentation experienced in more smaller and personalized scale. Many of coffee
shops in Bandung built-in surrounding area of the university, tourist attraction or
central business district area. Urban lifestyle also became a factor of the growing on
coffee shops design, which this typology has potential to represent the ‘third’ space or
communal-private space which public spaces won't offer. The coffee shops have been
seen as the facilities to either hang out, gathering or even casual working. Those
activities became a needs of urban society where or mobility in high density. So, the
needs of ‘transit’ place which require comfortable places to works and enhance our
mobile productivity become one of the issues on designing coffee shops. Moreover, such
transitional facilities grow its focused not only as comfortable ‘lounge and coffee’ but
also become a social hub, necessarily represent the current popular cultures.
This paper involves three coffee shop in Bandung which has a similarity upon its
popularity in social media, architectural context, and the inherent eclectic style. The
achievement of eclectic style can be studied on several approaches as an insight of each
café specific design. By examined the compositional element of the café interior, the
eclectic style can be defined to seek a root of what particular style are also involves and
what factors influence the style creations. The coffee shop studied: Mimiti and 180’s has
the specific design which located in a colonial house complex near a university. These
cafes have successfully become a social hub because the design has good reviews and
considered trendy and because of the top ten the most ‘unique’ café in Bandung.

2 Literature Reviews

2.1 Eclectic Style in Interior Design

As critics of modern paradigm, a postmodern paradigm in phenomenological approach
seeks eclecticism as a condition to rational approaches. The Eclectic's main principle was
that any single system of thought could not contain the truth about everything. Instead, each
school of thought perceived a fraction of total truths due to the particular point of view it
adopted [2]. In postmodern architecture, Charles Jencks argued that an appropriate response
to this notion of pluralism is radical eclecticism. The accomplishment of radical
eclecticism is to let the personal, ephemeral, irrational, and impermanent presence of places
or individuals find architectural expression alongside the abstract constructional order of a
building [3]. Another definitions also mention that eclecticism is a conceptual approach that
does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon
multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies
different theories in particular cases [4]. In Interior design, the eclectic style characterized
an absence of a particular style. The eclectic borrowing of a variety of styles, ideas, and
concept, drawn from different time periods and different origins and combining them
within a single project. In the design process, Eclectic defines as a process to combine or
interpret interior elements or particular styles into an integrated aesthetic or cohesive
concept. To illustrate the process of eclectic style the designer need to build the basic
outline on visual concepts. It is like making a container, melting pot which includes many
different elements from the variety of styles.

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2.2 Element of Interior Design

The eclectic guideline for most interior design lies on the principle to see interior sets as a
series of layers These elements will become layers that will be examined to identify the
source of style in the case study. Simon Dodsworth, in his book - The Fundamental of
Interior Design- mentions that the principle element of interior design as follows:
- Space: The space consist of the elements of wall, floor, ceilings, stairs, and openings. This
space is also informed on what style the architecture which contains all the interior
furnishings.
- Furniture: The layer of furniture, are important to communicate the idea of form. The
furniture design became a stepping stone to discuss the history of interior design. So,
furniture plays an important role to express the style based on in form, scale, and materials.
- Color.: The color provides mood which creates a 'specific ambiance' which also can be
associated with specific styles. Textile can be applied to furniture, furnishings or even
spaces.
- Motifs/Pattern: . The particular pattern can be signified in some particular styles. In some
style such Victorian, many flowery-organic pattern use for wallpapers. Not mention the
obsessive of flower image, found on the wall screen, ornament or cross stitched work on
cushion or tableware. The pattern can be used to communicate a character of feminine or
masculine, also can associate with ethnic culture. In pop art style, for example, most of the
pattern is an image of ‘popular visual’ in advertising such product or celebrity images.
- Ornaments: Ornaments strongly represent identity, and has more personal values toward a
space design. Ornament has no functions, but it also adds up to the ambiance and
sentimentality values on the interior.
- Proportions: Proportion of space linked into dimensional aspect. A ratio of space
dimension affects how user experiences space, which follows which emotional reaction.
- Scale: Scale relate to how the proportion of object interior relate to each other. For
example how the scale relate between the opening windows and sofa set next to it, or how
sofa set proportion are relate to the coffee table. The scale involving a standard in
anthropometry. Both scale and proportion easily recognize how we read a lay out; to
identify the relationship between architectural element, interior element and circulation. It
is also to define how the space is composed and clustered to its functions.

3 Method
This paper is conducted in a descriptive-analytic method by observing a case study to
gather the data. The research is focused on the examining the interior layers element to find
the origins of style. The data is collected through direct observation and image recording at
the studied object. Based on data observation, the identification of style will be analyzed on
the element interior layers based on a concept of eclectics in interior style toward the
element of interior design. The methods of style fusion from both cafes will give insight to
aesthetic strategy in eclectic approaches to achieve the logically coherent new style.

4 Finding and Result

4.1 Mimiti Coffe Shops

Mimiti taken from Sundanese means ‘the beginning’. Mimiti located in the neighborhood
of heritages housing, near a university. The coffee shop adapt the colonial indies
architecture into commercials uses. Mimiti building consists of 3 zones, the restaurant, café,

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and outdoor seating with live stages music. The table below shows the analysis on
examines the origins of style through a layer of interior elements

Fig. 1. Identification Style Origins in Mimiti Cafes (Source. Personal documentation)

4.2 One Eighty Coffe Shops

One Eighty Coffe shops located in the neighborhood of heritages housing, also near a
university. The coffee should attach to colonial indies architecture which uses the extended
area surrounding the house. These cafes consist of 3 zones, the 1st-floor bar and seating
area, pool seating area and 2nd-floor seating area with stages of live music.

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The table below shows the analysis examines the origins of style through a layer of
interior elements:

Fig. 2. Identification Style Origins in180 Cafes (Source. Personal documentation)

Based on the discussion above, some methods of fusion and the content were examined. On
the two cafes which have urban context and targetted as high-class images, the eclectic
style achieved by several methods:

4.2.1 Space as a neutral background

On styling interior, background means the overall setting or space that containing the
furnishing element. In both Mimiti and 180, the background was neutral by adapting
modern look. The modern look can become a basic style like it provided a blank canvas
which will match with anything on top of it. The blank canvases are in both cafes, achieve
with more monochromatic neutral color, with emphasize on large openings to create more
spacious feelings. The spacious quality of the space can create more adaptive background
into its foreground. For example, in Mimiti, the restaurant is within the colonial indies
building, which originally has a decorative architectural element such column or window
frame. However, the degree of decoration which attaches to architectural details is reduced
by substitute the ornamental windows frame by fabricated materials. The texture and
pattern also not be found on this spaces. The ornamentation is not became focused which
directly attach to this element of architecture.
In 180, the expression of window, door, wall, or ceilings are not dominant. In other
hands, it dominated by landscape work which tends to be ‘neutral’ to goes with any style
attach to it. Even the language of artistic detailing did not become a significant aspect to

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give a statement. This is following the rules of gallery and art, which gallery space is
treated as a ‘framing’ of the art displayed. In the interior, the character of space, also
become a ‘frame’ directed angle to highlight the certain components of furnishing element
in each corner. Open plan layout in both cafes is becoming an option to gave a flexibility on
composing layouts focusing on its variation of style. The idea of an open plan also firstly
introduced in modern architecture.

4.2.2 Balance and Symmetry Composition on layout and Furniture Arrangement

In addition, to create a composition of furnishing elements, the composition needs to be
kept as simple as possible by maintaining balance and symmetry. The reason is balance and
symmetry help our brains to simplify the design. According to Gestalt psychology our
brains designed to see design in its simplest form. For example, in 180 sequences from an
entrance to a bar area, the strategy to repeat identifiable patterns – as texture or opening
expressions- allow us to process the room’s visual information faster. As a result, the basis
of aesthetic feelings- order- evokes throughout the journey in cafes sequence. In Mimiti
also adapt balance by arranging furniture on clusters rather than random. In cafes, the sense
of orientation is very important to create comfort and intimate feelings. The balance and
symmetry help to reduce chaos order and visual over stimulations. In those coffee shops,
the layout is composed in balance and symmetrical ways to create logics of spatial
orientations and make to room function instantly identifiable. It is about allowing our
perception to relax and focus solely on the aesthetic of the furnishing which has an eclectic
statement in details.

4.4.3 Color harmony

Color harmony is very important to create a bridging between style. In Mimiti, the rustic
style is composed with minimalist style by arranging different style of furniture on one
table sets. However, this furniture style did not look mismatch because the color tone
blends in monochromatic ways with its surrounded space and furnishings. So, does in 180,
the furniture which has an industrial expression still looks ‘normal’ matched with its
modern surrounding by creating the warm tone expression, toward the color scheme used.
Coordination multiple colors between space, furnishing, ornament, and pattern are very
important to give a sense of visual integration, as it becomes one set to each other. The
principle of color harmony – monochromatic, contrast, complimentary, etc- critically need
to be understood to create a subtle color scheme which has ‘coordination ‘ values over form
and textures.

4.4.4. Adding a Focal Point: A Statement Piece

Along the sequences, at some point, the focal point must be added. It is to give a statement,
dominant look over entire backgrounds. In 180, the most fascinating focal point is the bar.
The bar became a climax in and gave a statement to industrial style dominant to the modern
spaces surrounded. The bar style then follows by the other sets of furniture surrounds it that
also has similar style such a set of industrial stools. The furthest furniture place from the bar
area the style is more differs, such as pool area, the sets of furniture likely more modern
look rather than industrial. So does in the area of outdoor dining on the 2nd floor, the sense
of industrial style gradually diminished, then dominated by the combination of modular and
landscape expression. In Mimiti, the climax located on the outdoor seating area, which
dominantly uses a pure form of furniture in modular type. Lack of ornamentation,
monochromatic, no details are implicitly characterized the minimalist look. The sense of

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poetic also expressed by the occurrence of shadow, and water element in the most invisible
and pure form.
Those cafes gave an example of, the statement piece which not always in form of
decorative elements. However, the statement piece can be manifest in the dominant style
and composition in the most important area. It usually becomes the area that considered ‘
the most photogenic’ or a core of dining experiences offered.

5 Conclusion
Eclectic style in interior cafes needs an understanding of aesthetic principle toward user
perceptions. It is the nature of eclectic to a combined variation of style, however, the risk of
‘messy’ interior which create disorientation of the user can be minimized by styling in more
methodological ways. The methods used to interpret the typology and visual strategy to
create the coherent ambiance logically interconnected rather than random. The eclectic
style creates a limitless possibility of news style. By all means, the creativity to mix-match
and find an underlying style that has ‘possible’ potential to compose is important. For
example in both cafes, minimalist, modern and industrial looks have the same core as a user
of fabrication materials but differ in the way materials are expressed toward the form and
motifs. The industrials tend to focus on the aesthetic of raw finish and construction detail,
while in modern and minimalist tend to ‘cover’ the details or joint to create a flawless
surface which aims to purity of forms Furthermore, minimalist tends to look furniture as a
‘form’ rather than seeing facility which inaugurates with a line seating functions.
Meanwhile, the rustic style appears as a contrasting style which only expressed in organic
texture and existed as a balanced toward the vegetations treated as interior elements.
So, to create eclectic looks, some order needs to follow: determine the basic style, in
which became the domination of background, then the bridging style which became the
element that re-appear along the sequences and last, the accentuate style, which has a
contrasting character to both previous style. The accentuate style can be manifest on the
focal point, whether in form of an area, or certain objects compositions

References
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Eclecticism, Faculty of Architecture Building Planning (The University of Melbourne,
1997)
3. Jencks, Charles. Architcture of Jumping Universe, (Academy Press, NC,1997)
4. Harisah, Afifah, Sudaryono Sastrosasmito, Adi Utomo Hatmoko, Eklektisisme dan
Arsitektur Eklektik : Prinsip dan Konsep Desain, ( UGM Press. Yogyakarta, 2007)

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