Published: 29 May 2026
Design & coffee: School of Form students team up with Żona Krawca
Author: Magdalena Miszewska
A campus café is more than just a spot to grab a quick espresso. It’s a social hub—a place for meetups, deep conversations, and daily rituals that shape the university experience. But how do you design a space that captures the café's unique vibe while welcoming people to relax and stay a while? That was exactly the challenge School of Form students took on during a collaborative course with Warsaw-based café Żona Krawca and coffee roastery Palarnia Kawy Chłopaki.
Good design starts with observation
At School of Form, we believe great design is rooted in empathy and a deep understanding of human needs. That's why the illustration and mural project for Żona Krawca—a café whose name translates to "The Tailor’s Wife"—did not start with sketches. Instead, it began with social research. Guided by instructors Danil Daneliuk and Anita Basińska, the students analyzed the café's daily flow and observed its guests. Their goal was to pinpoint solutions that were highly original yet perfectly aligned with the brand’s identity.
Young designers chatted with customers about their go-to coffee, the vibe of the place, and their personal connection to the café. To capture its unique character, they sketched café stories on napkins and drew inspiration from the traditional craft of tailoring. Conversations with the owners gave them a deeper understanding of their passions, the brand's history, and its core values. Ultimately, this translated into designs that nod to the owners' love of sports, while also playfully trying to answer the question: who exactly is the Tailor’s Wife?"
Understanding the local context was a crucial step in the design process. We looked to the neighborhood's history and identity for inspiration. We visited The Praga Museum of Warsaw, and as we walked through the district, we analyzed its architecture, color palettes, and signature symbols. You can see the results of this research in designs that reference historical elements like the Electrical Apparatus Factory founded by Kazimierz Szpotański and the old coat of arms of Praga.
Anita Basińska, Ph.D.
School of Form lecturer
From murals to merch
Initially, the brief was simply to create interior illustrations and murals for the café. But as the collaboration progressed, the scope expanded to include a whole lot more—like custom apparel, tote bags, to-go coffee cups, and print materials.
Client meetings are a crucial part of the design process. They often open the door to new directions and allow a project to evolve right alongside the brand's needs. This gave the students a firsthand look at just how dynamic and adaptable a designer's workflow needs to be.
A vital part of the design process is uncovering a client's deeper, underlying needs that go well beyond the initial brief—delving into what truly makes sense and holds potential for that specific context. Part of this coursework was about identifying that hidden potential. It allowed our students to support the client more holistically, while also giving them a real sense of creative fulfillment that can lay the groundwork for a long-term relationship.
Danil Daneliuk
School of Form lecturer
More than just a classroom exercise
Partnering with external businesses is a staple of the School of Form curriculum. It gives our students' work the chance to live outside the campus bubble—in real-world spaces, engaging with real people. In the case of Żona Krawca, the selected design might be brought to life right inside the café.
During the presentations, students were able to pitch their ideas directly to the project partner, align them with real-world expectations, and discuss what it would take to bring them to life. This kind of hands-on experience gives them an opportunity to work under conditions that closely mirror professional practice, complete with an actual client, a specific context, and a target audience whose needs must be thoroughly understood before the actual design work begins.
