Transforming a Mamak Store into a Modern, Instagrammable Café Experience
Project Overview
Located in the vibrant heart of Skudai, Johor, Breadly Made Café represents a remarkable transformation from a once humble mamak eatery into a modern, design-forward café. Conceptualized and designed by Keith Ho Design (KHD), the project redefines the dining experience through an inventive blend of minimalism, brand storytelling, and sensory engagement.
Design Concept
The vision behind Breadly Made was to craft a space that embodies the artisanal charm of freshly baked goods — honest, warm, and approachable — while introducing a sleek and contemporary design aesthetic that resonates with today’s café culture.
The white and muted cement tones provide a clean, versatile canvas, allowing the café’s signature purple branding to subtly emerge through curated accents, lighting, and custom details. This combination strikes a perfect balance between industrial rawness and youthful vibrancy.
Spatial Planning & Experience
The café’s layout is thoughtfully designed to enhance flow and transparency, inviting customers to engage visually with every stage of their experience — from the moment they order to the instant their coffee is served.
Open Kitchen Concept: Guests can witness the baking process firsthand, reinforcing Breadly Made’s authenticity and craftsmanship.
Open Counter & Barista Zone: The open coffee counter doubles as a social focal point, integrating the coffee-making ritual with customer interaction.
Casual Seating & Mezzanine Level: Seating is layered across two levels — a comfortable ground floor for casual catch-ups and an elevated mezzanine area that offers a more private, cozy atmosphere with a bird’s-eye view of the café.
Material & Palette
The design leans into textural simplicity, using cement flooring to anchor the space with a raw, grounded feel. Subtle white finishes and purple highlights punctuate the interior — from soft furnishings to custom feature elements — tying the brand identity seamlessly into the spatial experience.
Lighting plays a key role in creating an Instagrammable ambience. Warm tones accentuate the café’s textures and enhance the inviting, photogenic mood that appeals to modern café-goers.
Brand Integration
Every design choice echoes Breadly Made’s brand values — transparency, craft, and community. The open-concept kitchen, visible preparation areas, and thoughtfully designed customer journey all reflect the brand’s belief in honesty and connection through food and design.
Outcome
The result is a sophisticated yet approachable café that successfully bridges local familiarity with modern sensibilities. Breadly Made is not only a place to enjoy good food and coffee — it’s a design statement that embodies the evolving café culture of Johor Bahru.
Project Details:
Client: Breadly Made Café
Location: Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Designer: Keith Ho Design (KHD)
Concept: Modern Minimalist Café Transformation
Key Features: Mezzanine seating, open kitchen concept, cement flooring, white & purple branding, open coffee counter, and Instagrammable interior
Malaysia
