Inside The Assembly, an Elegant Little Coffee Space in West Hollywood

The Assembly in West Hollywood. Photo by Amparo Rios.

The Assembly, a tightly designed, beautifully detailed specialty coffee shop from Cafe Demitasse alumnus Shi Jun Ng, has soft-opened in West Hollywood.

Ng and her team are still putting some finishing touches on the cafe — including back patio furnishings and various functional aesthetic and ornamental features — which sits on North Robertson Boulevard between Melrose Ave and Santa Monica Boulevard.

The shop is opening with brewed coffees and espresso supplied by Counter Culture Coffee, which recently opened its Bay Area training lab and is in the process of building out another one much closer to The Assembly in Silver Lake.

The Assembly in West Hollywood. Photo by Amparo Rios.

Drinks and fresh baked items from Larder Baking Company are being served in custom ceramic pieces from W//R//F (West River Field Lab), the studio of L.A. artist Nobuhito Nishigawara, who informs traditional Japanese ceramic production with his own contemporary art. The ceramic ware is just one example of how each element inside this new cafe, including retail offerings on the custom shelves, has been carefully considered to provide an elegant backdrop for coffee and community involvement.

“We revere the process — the crafting of our products and the story behind each item in our space,” says Assembly’s manifesto. “We believe that how you consume a product matters: a small interaction that alone is trivial, but with sum of its parts becoming a memory, an emotion — an experience.”

Los Angeles-based photographer Amparo Rios visited the shop during the soft opening, giving us these lovely shots: