“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it,” wrote Henry Thoreau, and London’s new pay-as-you-sit café, Ziferblat, has given the amount of life spent in their space a price: precisely 3p a minute.
Located on a sunny second floor of a corner building in London’s Shoreditch neighborhood, this Russian-style concept café is the latest member of a family of nine firmly established Ziferblat in Russia and the Ukraine.
Behind it all, or rather perched amongst it, in an armchair, is mustache-bearing Russian-native, Ivan Meetin. Dressed in neutral tones of beige and green, this 29-year-old figure easily belongs to the vintage Dacha-esque décor of what feels like a stylish clock-collector’s apartment. The eclectic collection (ziferblat means ‘clock face’) serves a central purpose: each guest takes a clock, a reminder to keep track of the time spent, with the option to pay 9 pounds upfront for unlimited time. A fireplace, vintage record player, and armchairs dominate the space, with a small kitchen off to the side, where it is common to see someone slicing apples, or learning to use the coffee machine. (Tea and coffee are unlimited.)
Within a week of their first press release, Ivan’s days have been hijacked by back-to-back interviews, so when I ask how he got started, he says: “Ah, the question that I’ve answered two hundred and something times.”
Where did the motivation to start your own business, and this unusual model, come from?
Just the desire to create a space where everyone is talking to each other, where no consumerism is happening. Everyone is sincere and open to each other, and not like they’re wearing masks that the societies of big cities ask them to wear. So this is something like a treehouse that we built together, where people can come.
Do you feel that Ziferblat has been successful in achieving that sincerity?
Yeah, I think so. The people who come here many times, they all come exactly for that reason. Of course, there are many people who come here just once to maybe check it out. But this atmosphere could only be created when you have some kind of value that stands behind the shallow level of just "paying for time." That’s why it attracts people, not because they pay for time but because of the idea of making a space together.
How would you describe the clientele who are attracted to these values? Do you think there is a certain kind of client who is drawn to Ziferblat?
I don’t. In fact, I think it’s various kinds of people, and I like that everyone can come here and you don’t have to be part of a special group of society. So everybody comes here of different ages, different occupations … I think they like that it’s open, or has people who are ready to be open, who are not afraid of being themselves in public. Maybe that’s the common thing.
Have you noticed a difference between the Russia and London locations? How would you describe that difference in terms of atmosphere?
Well, the average age in London is higher. In Russia we have a lot of schoolboys and schoolgirls and here we don’t. I think that Londoners pay more attention to each other; they don’t want to distract other people from what they’re doing. In Russia, sometimes it can be more loud … everybody’s walking around, someone could sit at the piano and play some stupid melodies. In London, it doesn’t happen that way.
Also, I think Londoners are more tired of consumer behavior. In Russia, we’ve only had capitalism for 20 years and we still have a certain attitude towards money. Londoners have a longer history o
Located on a sunny second floor of a corner building in London’s Shoreditch neighborhood, this Russian-style concept café is the latest member of a family of nine firmly established Ziferblat in Russia and the Ukraine.
Behind it all, or rather perched amongst it, in an armchair, is mustache-bearing Russian-native, Ivan Meetin. Dressed in neutral tones of beige and green, this 29-year-old figure easily belongs to the vintage Dacha-esque décor of what feels like a stylish clock-collector’s apartment. The eclectic collection (ziferblat means ‘clock face’) serves a central purpose: each guest takes a clock, a reminder to keep track of the time spent, with the option to pay 9 pounds upfront for unlimited time. A fireplace, vintage record player, and armchairs dominate the space, with a small kitchen off to the side, where it is common to see someone slicing apples, or learning to use the coffee machine. (Tea and coffee are unlimited.)
Within a week of their first press release, Ivan’s days have been hijacked by back-to-back interviews, so when I ask how he got started, he says: “Ah, the question that I’ve answered two hundred and something times.”
Where did the motivation to start your own business, and this unusual model, come from?
Just the desire to create a space where everyone is talking to each other, where no consumerism is happening. Everyone is sincere and open to each other, and not like they’re wearing masks that the societies of big cities ask them to wear. So this is something like a treehouse that we built together, where people can come.
Do you feel that Ziferblat has been successful in achieving that sincerity?
Yeah, I think so. The people who come here many times, they all come exactly for that reason. Of course, there are many people who come here just once to maybe check it out. But this atmosphere could only be created when you have some kind of value that stands behind the shallow level of just "paying for time." That’s why it attracts people, not because they pay for time but because of the idea of making a space together.
How would you describe the clientele who are attracted to these values? Do you think there is a certain kind of client who is drawn to Ziferblat?
I don’t. In fact, I think it’s various kinds of people, and I like that everyone can come here and you don’t have to be part of a special group of society. So everybody comes here of different ages, different occupations … I think they like that it’s open, or has people who are ready to be open, who are not afraid of being themselves in public. Maybe that’s the common thing.
Have you noticed a difference between the Russia and London locations? How would you describe that difference in terms of atmosphere?
Well, the average age in London is higher. In Russia we have a lot of schoolboys and schoolgirls and here we don’t. I think that Londoners pay more attention to each other; they don’t want to distract other people from what they’re doing. In Russia, sometimes it can be more loud … everybody’s walking around, someone could sit at the piano and play some stupid melodies. In London, it doesn’t happen that way.
Also, I think Londoners are more tired of consumer behavior. In Russia, we’ve only had capitalism for 20 years and we still have a certain attitude towards money. Londoners have a longer history o