Young designer creates artwork for new coffee collection
John Farrer & Co of Kendal, who have been one of the UK’s leading producers, roasters, suppliers and distributors of coffee and tea for over two hundred years, recently launched their NEW John Farrer Signature collection.
The new coffee collection is a project born out of the real passion for coffee of Farrer’s team of roasters, who painstakingly handpick selected premium single origin coffees from sought-after coffee crops produced by small single estate plantations around the globe.
To reflect the premium nature of the coffees the company commissioned young North West based designer Jessica Walsh to create a suite of artwork to highlight the new, small batch, seasonal, single origin coffees sourced from around the globe.
Jessica’s brief for the Signature Collection was to incorporate a range of representative elements, especially referencing both the coffee berry and the plant itself within her design concepts.
Jessica explains: ‘’This specific piece of work is organic, lively, delicate in form and verdant, hugely influenced by the natural environment in which coffee is often grown. I wanted to show the plant growing naturally and organically, highlighting its distinctive features including the flower and leaf, the rest of the piece needed to also be organic. But at the same time, I wanted to use a painterly style to show that the print work had originally been hand painted. To show that this work was very much a personal piece to represent a high quality product – in essence that every element of the coffee had been carefully considered from the bean to the box to provide the very best coffee possible.’’
Jessica’s design work is strongly influenced by a range of artforms, with particular references to more traditional forms from her fine art studies, particularly the Baroque realism of Renaissance masters, including the likes of Caravaggio and Gentileschi. More recently, however, her work has also incorporated elements taken from both the modernist and abstract movements, leading to the development of an intriguing style delivering some intriguing juxtapositions.
The first coffee to feature in the new collection launched earlier this summer was Finca El Ingenio, a coffee from El Salvador, characterised by sweet fruity flavours, with notes of toffee, plum, apple, chocolate and caramel rounded off with a gentle acidity at the finish. This limited edition will be followed by two additional coffees in the coming weeks.
Dave Walsh, Farrer’s General Manager commented: ‘’Jessica’s strong and considered designs are representative of John Farrer & Co’s deserved reputation for crafting delicious coffees. We wanted to create a truly distinctive identity reflecting our rich heritage, yet also creating a point of difference. It highlights that the John Farrer Signature Collection has been carefully selected to deliver the very best of craft premium coffees in each and every cup. I think that these strong and vibrant designs do exactly that.’’
For further information about John Farrer & Co, Kendal please visit: https://farrerscoffee.co.uk or email: sales@farrerscoffee.co.uk or telephone: 01539 720 020