By Diane Leyman I love good coffee, but let’s be honest – the Melbourne coffee and cafe scene can sometimes take itself a little too seriously. Thankfully though, new Melbourne cafe Crafternoon is here to change all that.

Tegan Cumerford is the creative lady behind this new cafe venture. She moved to Melbourne from Brisbane around a year ago looking for work, but decided to start up her own business instead. The result – Crafternoon – happened pretty quickly. Tegan put together her business plan in June 2011, found a property in July, moved into the premises in December and opened the doors just last month. I visited in the third week of operation and Tegan calmly had everything under control and running smoothly – a pretty big feat seeing as how she tackled opening week single-handedly!

Tegan studied music at the Queensland Conservatorium and then went on to study creative industries at QUT, which gave her a good foundation in creative businesses. With Crafternoon, Tegan’s intention is to create a place where everyone (of all ages) can feel relaxed, have fun and be creative. To that end, the floor is plastered with magazine cut-outs, and hanging from the sky-blue ceiling are colourful artworks made by her crafty patrons. The craft table is a sight of joy and wonderment, and reminded me of the craft table at my preschool, which was pretty much Tegan’s inspiration. There are straws, pasta shapes, pegs, paddle pop sticks, glitter, googly eyes, tissue paper, Clag glue, paper cut-outs, colourful scissors, paint, crayons, pipe cleaners, felt-tip pens ... plenty to get your creative juices flowing! Patrons can choose to make badges, collages, paintings and drawings, or opt to play with Tegan’s homemade playdough. Oh, and you can get a nice cup of coffee and a yummy bite to eat while you’re at it!

Crafternoon really does inject a sense of fun into cafe going, and Tegan’s enthusiasm for craft, along with her unique business idea, has already proved to be a popular amongst Melbournites. Crafternoon is located at 531 Nicholson Street, North Carlton, and is open Mon–Tues and Thurs–Sun, with late night stitch‘n’bitch sessions on Tuesdays. For further details, visit the Crafternoon Facebook and Twitter pages.

Diane Leyman is an editor and writer and with six years of experience working in non-fiction, illustrated trade book publishing. She has a passion for all things design, and writes a design blog called Notes to a Further Excuse, which she updates regularly. She also likes taking photographs, crafting, drinking coffee and obsessing over mid-century homewares.