Case study · Our own place
Frank's Market
Audierne, Brittany · LOBBY · Opened 2026
- Client
- LOBBY (our own place)
- Location
- Audierne, Brittany, France
- Scope
- Concept, brand, interiors, signage, website, operations
- Year
- 2026
The place
Frank's Market is a sourcing and purchasing office for independent hospitality, with a coffee shop at the front. It lives in a restored mid-century warehouse in Audierne, at the western tip of Brittany. Showroom at the front, customisation workshop in the middle, sourcing office at the back, plus a workspace open to anyone who wants to work from this address. Opened June 2026.
The brief
There was no client. We wrote the brief ourselves. For years, on almost every project, clients asked us to handle the purchasing too: the furniture, the lighting, the objects, the hi-fi. They trusted our taste and our seriousness more than a supplier's catalogue. We also wanted a physical place where LOBBY's expertise could be seen, touched and tested, rather than described in a deck.
“A studio that only talks about places eventually has to build one.”
The insight
Sourcing for hospitality is not a shopping problem, it is a trust problem. Owners do not lack catalogues; they lack someone who will choose with them, say no, and stay accountable until the pieces land. A sourcing office only works if you can see the materials, sit on the chairs and have a coffee while you change your mind. So the coffee shop is not a side business. It is the front door of the office.
The idea
A general store for people who build places. Frank's Market takes its name from Frank, Kevin's partner in the project, and its manners from the old-fashioned market: plain method, clear prices, no supplier commission, hospitality only, the same care for a single lamp or a full opening. The brand is built to sound exactly like the place it comes from.
What we built
- Reveal
- Positioning, business model, three non-negotiable principles.
- Compose
- Naming, visual identity, tone of voice, signage system.
- Activate
- Interior design and build-out, showroom, workshop, coffee shop, website, collaterals.
- Grow
- Daily operations, sourcing dossiers for clients, the workspace.
In real life
The counter. It is the first thing you see, the place where the coffee is made, where sourcing conversations start and where locals and hospitality owners end up side by side. Around a hundred coffees a day go over it. It is also the most photographed object in the house, and the proof that the office and the café are one place, not two.
Result
Opened June 2026. About 100 coffees a day. Sourcing office live, first client dossiers delivered. Neighbor and test bench for LOBBY Studio, whose office sits next door.
Credits
- Owner and operator
- LOBBY
- Concept, brand, interiors and art direction
- LOBBY Studio
- Photography
- [PHOTOGRAPHER]
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