Initially, the thought of green ice cream is not appetizing—unless of course by “green,” you mean fully sustainable and organic!  Such is the case with the recently opened Three Twins Organic Ice Cream store in Oxbow Public Marketplace in Napa, CA—the only fully organic and sustainable ice cream facility in the region. 

To bring the store to life, Group 41 Inc.(www.group41inc.com), a stylish, boutique architecture and design firm based in San Francisco, was assigned to create a "green" and "eco-friendly" design to complement the organic sweets being sold.

Working with the limited, 415 square foot space, Joel Karr, Founder and Principal of Group 41, incorporated not only the retail and display features, but keenly fit in an ice-cream production facility which was compactly designed into the tiny back-of-house space.

Environmentally friendly materials were a must and the message was visually conveyed with a color palette centered on green tonal themes. 

Beautiful details such as 3Form "eco-resin" panels in Bloom and Linea Vert were backlit so that they appeared to glow from within and highly sustainable materials such as Plyboo panels (bamboo plywood) were used for the build-out.

Additionally, the space incorporated vintage 1950s chrome refrigerator doors to be used as inexpensive, but unique menu boards.  They convey not only the nostalgic idea of old ice cream making, but also the timely idea of re-use. In addition, all of the bowls, spoons, cups and napkins used in the store are 100% compostable.