Building our strong coffee community!
August 07, 2014, 12:00 AM | Posted by Theresa Szentendri in counter culture
This week our skilled baristas participated in an exciting project: They dressed in their best 1950’s inspired outfits, had their hair and makeup done, and posed for professionally shot photographs to be compiled into a 2015 calendar.
Earlier this year our coffee crew was contacted by long established local coffee company, Phoenix Coffee (http://phoenixcoffee.com/). CEO and super-barista Sarah Wilson and her imaginative marketing team wanted to do a collaborative, artistic piece to not only build community between shops and baristas in Cleveland but to raise funds for the amazing Café Femenino foundation (http://www.coffeecan.org/)- an organization focused on empowering women coffee growers and producers. Their vision was to create a fun and beautiful “baristas of Cleveland” calendar, with each month’s picture representing a different café. Through Clebrews ( http://www.clebrews.org/about) the idea was able to come to fruition.
With as much enthusiasm as any barista is capable of, our coffee professionals emphatically joined in the fun alongside baristas from Phoenix, Pour (https://www.facebook.com/PourCleveland), Rising Star(http://www.risingstarcoffee.com/), Erie Island (http://erieislandcoffee.com/) and others. Each shop brought their own ideas and personalities to their picture, some with elaborate costumes and props and all with an awesome sense of humor. The photographs were taken at nationally recognized artist Angelo Merendino’s west side studio ( http://angelomerendino.com/) with the assistance of professional makeup and hair stylists and production managers. It was exhilarating to be involved in such an experience; not only to be on camera but to enjoy the company and community of our local café network.
After two days of in studio work followed by several weeks of editing and finalizing, the calendars will be available for sale. Look for them in the participating Cafes come October, just in time for the holidays! And what better gift than something so functional, artistic, hilarious, meta local and of course, for an incredible cause? We sure can’t wait for you to see the final product, you won’t be able to resist!
