Chiquita, a café, bookshop and wine bar in Valencia's El Botànic

Chiquita is a small place with three jobs. It is a café, a bookshop and a wine bar, all in 59 square metres in Valencia's El Botànic neighbourhood. Studio SahuquillodeArriba designed it for the product designer Gloria Izquierdo, and the aim was one continuous room where you might drift from a morning coffee to a book to an evening glass without feeling you had moved.

The thing you'll notice first is the bookcase. It is ash, stained a deep burgundy, and runs the full length of one side, holding the books, a few objects and warm built-in lights, with the coffee counter and wine bar folded into the same shelving. It even carries on into the bathroom, which keeps to the burgundy right down to the basin. Opposite, a long bench and little white marble tables lighten things, beneath a textured ceiling painted soft blue. The original walls were kept, with a thin breathable coating to deal with damp, so their bumps and imperfections still show.

At the back, a big communal table is set aside for book clubs, meetings and other gatherings. The project came to designboom through its reader submissions, so the write-up says little about menus or hours. Check those before you go, then settle in with something to read.

Our summary of a story from designboom, published 9 October 2026. Read the original