DESIGNWORKS 2019

Bitty & Beau’s

Savannah, GA

LS3P

Cameron Wilson (Project Manager, Lead Designer), Steve Grogan (Project Architect), Kelly Gilreath (Interior Designer), Jennifer Howell (Experiential Graphic Designer)

Bitty & Beau’s Coffee was founded on value, inclusion, and acceptance to change the world for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Nationwide, over 70% of people with IDD are unemployed. Founder Amy Wright, who has two children with Down syndrome, wanted to reverse that statistic by giving her enthusiastic IDD staff meaningful work while integrating team members into the community.

Designed as a pro bono project, the joyful, economical interior maximizes the nonprofit’s budget with high-impact creative materials such as repurposed wood, creative millwork, and chalkboard-style graphics highlighting the company’s mission. Scrap wood creates eye-catching hanging pallets which creates an intimate scale, helps control acoustics, and hide the unsightly mechanical system. To help the owner minimize maintenance and upkeep over time, the designers selected pre-distressed surfaces for a timeworn aesthetic. The team gathered three different crown molding profiles for the POS counter from scraps donated by the millworker, who has a sister with IDD and was excited to build a custom piece for the project.

Vibrant experiential graphics created by the design team underscore that “It’s more than just a cup of coffee.” Founder Amy Wright was CNN’s 2017 National “Hero of the Year”; she plans to expand to ten additional US cities before building the business internationally. As she accepted her award, she looked out into the audience and told her IDD children and her growing IDD staff, “I would not change you for the world, but I will change the world for you.”