Layla Bakery
About
Layla Bakery is a busy artisan bakery in the Portobello Road, West London. It's a great place to pick up a fresh loaf of sourdough, or enjoy a tasty Danish pastry with a mellow cup of coffee.
The bakery needed robust, functional and attractive interior fittings and furniture to support daily commercial use: shelves and counters to display Layla's delicious baked goods; tables and benches for customers to eat, drink and relax with friends and family.
ARN Design was commissioned to design and manufacture a range of bespoke timber furniture, including a custom oak counter, bread shelving and stackable tables, combining digital design, CNC machining and traditional joinery and carpentry.
Services Used
- Furniture Design
- CAD
- CNC
- Joinery
- Finishes
What We Did
Layla Bakery asked us to design and build them an oak bread rack, new oak counter and coffee station and some stackable laminated birch ply tables and benches.
We love working with natural timber, and oak is a particularly lovely material - hard, durable and beautiful. It finishes up lovely and stands the test of time. We spent a lot of time getting the counter design just right for the client.
Laminating birch plywood adds a splash of colour and water resistance to an already tough and durable product. We relish a design challenge, and making sure the tables and benches were stackable and space saving was a key part of the brief. We're really happy with how this project turned out.
Here's our approach to this project, from CAD design to finished joinery.
Furniture design & CAD modelling
The project began with detailed CAD design. This involves preparing detailed shop drawings, allowing our team to model each furniture element accurately before manufacture. Using CAD makes sure that proportions, ergonomics and fixing details are resolved early in a project. This stage of the project reduced material waste and ensured the finished pieces work perfectly within the bakery’s layout.
This CAD-led approach enables clients to visualise the final outcome, and it helps us achieve precise coordination between design and manufacture.
CNC machining & digital fabrication
Once the designs were finalised, we produced the individual components using our CNC machining centre. CNC manufacturing allowed for:
- High-precision cutting of the oak and laminated birch plywood
- Consistent repeatability across multiple components
- Clean, accurate joints, ready for assembly
Joinery & carpentry
Following CNC production, our skilled makers applied traditional joinery and carpentry techniques to assemble and refine the furniture. This hands-on stage is critical in any project; it transforms the machined parts into finished, long-lasting pieces that Layla Bakery can rely on for many years in their busy commercial environment.
Assembly & finishing
The final stage in this project involved full assembly and finishing - this is the time to enhance the durability and appearance of each piece. In consultation with Layla bakery, we selected finishes to protect the timber surfaces while preserving the natural character of the oak and birch ply.
The Result
We're really happy with how this project turned out. The completed furniture provides Layla Bakery with a cohesive, practical interior solution that reflects their artisan, craft-led ethos. The combination of CAD-driven design, CNC-manufactured components and expert joinery and carpentry resulted in bespoke furniture that is both visually striking and fit for purpose.
