Structure

The Orange Couch: Modern Metropolitan meets Romantic Marigny

By Angela D’Souza

Into the Marigny, on the corner of Royal and Mandeville, stands a small, yet commanding building. Horizontal, café au lait-colored panels wrap around this house. White and cream trim frame its doors and windows, while open shudders, of a green so characteristic of New Orleans’ residential architecture, invite you to peek inside. The sidewalk tables and umbrellas, nor the chic and simplistic lettering of “the oRange couch” and “coffee” are taste enough to sally on by without stepping foot into the angular door, one reminiscent of old, corner-street grocers. Once inside, you let the surroundings set in and then the choices begin; inescapable, however, is sampling The Orange Couch’s mosaic of sensory stimuli.

“The stars aligned,” says proprietor, Johnnie Sanders, regarding the development of his brainchild, The Orange Couch. When he first encountered the Royal Street structure, his idea was given a physical skeleton. “This building is unique, the angles … I knew the concept was going to be mid-century modern, retro modern so when I saw [it] for the first time, [it was] literally what I actually was imagining in my mind.” Sanders had searched for year and a half following his post-Katrina return to New Orleans until he found the overgrown, gutted facade on its bustling intersection. As Sanders was planning and lining up the business details of opening a new coffee shop in an already café-densely populated radius, he regularly touched base with the house’s owner who simultaneously was fixing up his property. In a twist of serendipity, Sanders tied his last loose ends together around the same time that the 2339 Royal Street lot became available. With a good building, luck struck again when Sanders befriended French architect and Tulane professor, Anmar Eloueini. After discussing his concept, their collaboration began, and Eloueini breathed life into Sanders’ fantastic brainstorm.

Confidence and internal-translation propelled the project thereafter. Roughly two years ago, Sanders opened the doors to The Orange Couch, and in a way he opened the doors to his living room. Because he placed pieces from his own long-growing furniture collection, articles which have lived in his own living area at various times in the past, Sanders sustained Eloueini’s craftsmanship through his own interior design and décor. “If you had ever seen my living room or my house, it basically looks like this,” smiles Sanders. The Orange Couch’s counters are sharp, yet welcoming. The light fixtures remind you of a lemon or coconut meringue. Windows stretch two walls permeating an abundance of natural sunlight when New Orleans weather allows it. A friend of Sanders designed the white and wood-grained table-desks, and a photographer acquaintance approached Sanders with his Banksy prints, which now live on the white walls of the café room. Additionally, Sanders painted two life-size panels which grace opposite ends of his living room café and connect each object throughout the space. Everything (including the globe-trotting menu) within The Orange Couch is deliberately and enthusiastically decided, and consequently Sanders’ imaginings are executed, rich with intercultural flavor.

Today, The Orange Couch has a soul because of the people who have been and are housed within it. When Sanders envisioned a place where all of his favorite things might be assembled, inseparable also was a blueprint for a meeting area for people to “gather, talk about ideas, socialize, and perform.” In partnership with New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) blocks away, The Orange Couch plays host to NOCCA students the second Tuesday of every month, showcasing the high school’s disciplines of visual art, drama, music and creative writing. Having the opportunity to see and listen to these kids is an aspect of his work that Sanders most enjoys. His ties with neighborhood, out-of-kitchen bakers and local, small businesses form the socially empathetic matrix, which calls regulars back and new visitors to sit at The Orange Couch; it’s more than just meeting other café aficionados. The environment of the café fosters networking and facilitates neighborhood infrastructure.

Sharing his interests and food things with others, Sanders has created his dream job where he meets like-minded people and discovers new perspectives. The mural blanketed bathroom of The Orange Couch was painted by another local artist, and tucked into its magic is a line from a poem by Sanders. A personal reminder, you might say “clouds lifted, mind shifted” plays mantra for him. The Orange Couch has a seat for your mind to do the same.

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