Welcome To Cafe Indigo

Imagine, if you will…that you have just stepped through heavy oak doors and find yourself in a small entrance way. The smell of freshly brewed coffee hits your nose, and your ears are met with the pleasant hum of good conversation and the occasional hiss of the coffee machine, all wrapped in the wonderful embrace of excellent music.

You have found Café Indigo… welcome!

The hallway opens on either side into a cavernous space, with a gothic, mullioned window at each end. What was once a church of sorts, has now been re-purposed to create an arts centre, to be enjoyed by all. On one side of you there is the music venue, with plenty of space to dance, stage and lighting.

The other side of the building is the café, with cosy seating for you to meet up with old friends or take new friends to. If you are looking for quiet, there’s even a reading corner with short stories to take from the bookcases.

Leading from each of the two main spaces there are two small side rooms, four in total (Durham, York, Lancaster and Carlisle) … and these have been given over to showing art.

Café Indigo is the joint creation of two people. I am one of those, but any of you reading this know me already. The other side of the venture, who you may not already know, is Geoff Quinnell. Geoff has been in SL longer than I have, and is steeped in music, having worked as a musician all his life RL. Having had the privilege of getting to know Geoff, I can tell you that music is as much what pumps life to him, as is blood. He has carried that love of music into SL and has spent his time there building, and creating places which are filled with music, and we lucky SL inhabitants get to enjoy them too.

I have been going through a stressed time RL, and as someone who struggles at times like that, there are many evenings when listening to music with Geoff has calmed things and has seemed to bring the sun out. Life seems lighter again somehow. He’s also got this incredible knack of bringing long-forgotten tunes back to me and performs that magic of introducing me to new songs, songs which almost immediately become important and it’s a gift that he shares with the wider SL world too via his venues.

Listening to him talk about the places he’s created before, I have been sad to have missed out on the joy of visiting and listening in them, but Café Indigo has given him a venue which is not attached to only one era of music. Café indigo is a place where you can listen to 70s funk, 60s girl groups, but also big band music too. Just the ‘radio’ stream playing in the café when there’s no event on is Geoff’s stream, so why not pop over at and soak up some excellent tunes.

Geoff is totally responsible for the building itself. We started planning this back in February and wanted to find a space which didn’t seem… sterile. We started by looking at architecture styles we both enjoy and found a building from Varonis which was filled with character. Geoff then set about transforming it into the wonderful space it is now. I always enjoyed building but have honestly just sat in wonder watching him create. He also has real skills in SL lighting. This can be observed in the Café, but I think it’s something many others wouldn’t notice. I do sometimes wonder if to many buildings and venues in SL just… ‘appear’. They don’t. They provide the creators much in the way of headaches and are often needing to be tweaked to try and achieve any kind of perfection.

Once Geoff had finished on the building itself, I was able to throw plants, cakes and other décor at the space. In fact, Geoff and I spent a lot of time testing out the sofa and chairs to make sure we had found the ones which we felt fitted perfectly with an idea of comfortable luxury that we are aiming for. A big nod to BAZAR and Chez Moi for the chairs in the Café.

The Dutchie Bar and bar stools HAD to be used! I am always a sucker for good and realistic animations. The Dutchie furniture also has the bonus of rezzing items too, whether it be for the bartender, or the drinks for those sitting at the bar on the stools. There will be times you might find Geoff and I working the bar, but if not, you will find Luke minding the bar. He doesn’t move much, but will always greet with a smile 😉

Café Indigo is a work in progress. Nothing is set in stone. Décor may change over time and artwork certainly will! There will be an event every other Wednesday, but the café is open for enjoyment at all other times too 😊