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Foreign Exchange News, the cafe, exchange office and newsagent located on a quiet street near Paddington station, is a celebration of the surreal. At the front you can buy coffee (£3.60 for a flat white), a slice of Reemies banana cake (£4.50), a Pain au chocolat from Kuro Bakery (£3.60) or a shot of vitamins (£2.99) – At the back you can trade US dollars ($100 for £71), Japanese yen (¥10,000 for £49) or Saudi Arabian rials (SR100 for £18) (rates are likely to fluctuate). And while the rest of the cafe is decorated with caramel-colored wood paneling, office workers sit behind half-moons of bulletproof glass. The effect is undeniably dramatic. “When we first opened, people thought they were actors,” explains the store’s founder and designer, Gabriel Chipperfield.
The collaboration between café and exchange office that began earlier this year was due to a combination of needs. The exchange house, owned by the same family for two generations, had problems with overhead costs. Chipperfield, who is developing a residential building down the street with his design firm. wendoverwanted to create a gathering place for its potential future inhabitants. “People said it was so ridiculous it could work,” he says. And he has done it. Now “there are cool kids who come for coffee and there is a different generation who comes to exchange money before going on vacation,” he says.
Regarding the design, Forex news is “Palm Beach meets Naples,” says Chipperfield. The Italian inspiration can be felt in the marble counters, mosaic floors and long central counter, inspired in part by a classic coffee shop he visited in Noto, Sicily, several summers ago. Meanwhile, Florida can be felt in the overall feeling of opulence and a slightly vulgar leaf-shaped ceiling fan. Also decorating the space are Gio Ponti metal teapots, a gallery print of Angelica Jopling, and a black-and-white photograph of American baseball player Jackie Robinson running out. “It’s special because normally you never see anything negative about [him]” says Chipperfield. “He’s always hitting a home run.”
Beyond selling coffee and currency, Foreign Exchange News acts as a kind of upscale newsstand, stocking independent newspapers and magazines (Interview, Bomb, Frieze), cigarettes (£2 each), Fatso chocolates (£6.70), Chips de Madrid truffle crisps (£2.50) and Peppersmith mints (£2.20). It also deals in designer objects, including the cafe’s bright green striped white cups (£15) and saucers (£5), and a rotating cast of carefully selected vintage books: Susan Sontag. About photography (£18) and Maurice Nadeau The history of surrealism (£38) were recent titles. The café also has a liquor license, meaning the space is now optimized for evening events.
Foreign Exchange News’ clientele is split between tourists and locals, and its celebrity clients include former Brits. Fashion the editor Edward Enninful, the actor-director couple Aaron and Sam Taylor-Johnson “who come on bicycles”, as well as the creator and actor of Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen. Chipperfield likes to listen to customers talk about the store’s products: “A customer of mine said he liked the irony of a low-risk business next to a high-risk one.” (The high-risk one, with its high margins and overhead, is coffee.) “It’s about being fun and exciting. I want people to walk in and say, ‘What is this?’”