RIESEN X WHITE POMEGRANATE

RIESEN X WHITE POMEGRANATE

For all you coffee lovers…

Well, the title says it all. A happy and wonderful collaboration between two industries, coffee and textiles, comes together in the world of packaging!

It began with a simple question from Adrian, a master barista from Liechtenstein and the brain behind all this, our dear friend Karina. Would you like to do an overall picture/drawing for our packaging? And the rest is history. It helped that I had visited them in Liechtenstein to understand the brand and the product. It is hard to fit this long, beautiful story of friendship and collaboration into a short blog, but I’ll try. 

In Adrain’s own words,

“Riesen AG exists since 1977. I ended up working in my parents’ coffee business in 1997. Back then, I was in the workshop because I had a technical background. It was just a job and really only meant to be a stopgap between being a snowboard instructor and a bike mechanic, until I found something I enjoyed. My passion for coffee then developed through my first portafilter machines and the art of barista work. Up until then, my parents’ product line consisted of instant coffee and fully automatic machines. 

Little by little, I transitioned the product line, and we’ve been roasting our own beans since 2010. In the beginning, it was commercial coffee; today, we exclusively offer direct-trade coffee varieties”.

Adrian in his old workshop

The turning point

After visiting him at his workshop, I was deeply inspired. The coffee field trip to India and the Farmers to Roasters project, which he undertook alongside Karina—who was serving as the interim managing director of another roastery at the time—marked a groundbreaking turning point for his roastery’s future. During this interim role, Karina realised that coffee and being close to its origin were truly her world. 

Inspired by these shared experiences, the two decided to combine their skills and embark on a joint mission. Adrian’s deep, broad-ranging coffee expertise is now complemented by Karina’s communicative skills in text and visuals, as well as her strategic talent for sharpening and projecting the brand’s positioning to the outside world. Their Values: “We believe in working together as equals, with respect and trust at every step of the value chain — from farmers and logistics partners to our customers. Above all, we want to be driven by conviction and purpose — while building a business that allows us to make a living from what we believe in”.

Looking out of the window in Adrain’s coffee unit only to find a Rainbow

I had in mind that his coffee, much like my own fabrics, is not run-of-the-mill. As we entered his workshop, I saw his godown, with jute bags stacked on top of one another, filled with raw beans ready to roast.

We looked at the bags and the artwork on some of them. They were amazing, and I fell in love! It must have taken so much time and patience to put artwork on jute bags!

What was common between the way I worked and Adrian’s product was that both take time and patience. My style is to work by hand rather than digitally, and his is all about sourcing single-origin coffee directly from the farmers, knowing his farmers, and knowing where the beans are produced, which then completes the cycle of a bean-to-cup concept. Check out his website for more details.

From the outset, Adrian was clear he wanted a tribal element, as much of the coffee he sourced came from communities in Colombia, Peru, Africa, and India, to name a few. We reviewed several artworks to see what would resonate, and within 8 months we changed not only the packaging but also the logo and his showroom.

Adrian not only roasts but also represents Coffee Tech in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. He works with their incredibly professional, almost family-like teams, which has given him deep roasting expertise across small- to large-scale machines. Coffee Techs are true masters of roaster engineering, creating machines that feel like works of art, customised to each roastery. Today, he trains renowned roasteries and helps them develop new roast profiles.

Here are some inspirations that got us started, along with some of the artworks we reviewed before arriving at the final artwork.

Here are just a few of my sketches which I presented to Adrian…

Images from my sketch book

Sketchbook drawings

Style 3 reimagined on a coffee packet of Warli Art telling the story of coffee harvesting

We explored more variations, but only a few are shown here. Once he chose what he liked, we refined it. We emphasised the tribal element in the spine and the logo, and gave the artwork a cleaner, more refined look.

For the logo, we drew inspiration from Mayan bird symbolism, representing freedom, divinity and light.

I drew the colours from my visit there in autumn: the trees’ deep autumnal reds and oranges, the warmth they exuded, and the beautiful shutters on the buildings.

And Voila, after months of back and forth, this was the final outcome.

Image of the new colours and packaging courtesy of Karina Jener

Adrian and Karina also do exciting events such as Catering at Bettgeschichten Zürich: (website link here).A beautiful and festive catering experience at Bettgeschichten in Zurich. https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ16QAyiGep/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

And

Wedding Catering on an Alp > https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7493705309102854144

And

India Farmers to Roasters Project— bringing farmers and roasters together to learn from each other, understand each other’s challenges, and continuously improve quality and collaboration in a sustainable way. > https://lnkd.in/p/eTJgKBCA

Adrian at one of his events 

Image: Karina Jener

So, dear friends in Switzerland and neighbours, if you want to buy high-quality coffee, you must try Adrian’s coffee (I am biased, of course). This packaging travels with him wherever he goes, and for me the main thing was (no matter how long it took to develop) that, in the end, Adrian was happy with what he got. I think it is safe to say he was ; )

I will leave you with a picture that says it all… happy, meaningful work brings happy, lifelong friendships and memories.