Frank Chimero is a brilliantly clever illustrator and designer soon relocating to Portland, Oregon. Frank and I first met in the land of Intelligentsia (Chicago, IL), but we were usually out drinking beer together, not coffee. The first time we had coffee was a couple cups of Blue Bottle outside the Ferry Building in San Francisco. During which our conversations teetered between our love of coffee and world domination (you can’t have one without the other).
Is coffee a routine part of your workflow? If so, how important is it to your creative process? Yep! Most mornings start out the same. Wake up, get ready, do a cursory glance at my inbox, then head over to my local coffee haunt (the Mudhouse) to get some piping hot, locally roasted drip coffee. If I’m teaching that day, I walk the extra block to my classroom. If not, I usually plant there for a bit to take care of the morning niceties and communication obligations.
How many cups do you have a day? Typically two. Any more than that, and I think I can feel my heartbeat sync with the twitch in my left eye. Sometimes I have more than two cups. COFFEE!
Who makes your favorite roast and how do you drink it? I’m going to go plain jane here: Stumptown House Blend in a french press. Then it goes in a mug. And then in my belly. I take pleasure in the simple things. It’s not exotic, but I dare you to say it’s not good.
Any chance you will actually design a set of coffee mugs in the near future? I would love to! Who wants to get going on this with me?
Burning the midnight oil usually requires fuel. Check out more of Franks’s work at www.frankchimero.com
I’ll be sharing studio space with The Office of PlayLab, Inc. over the next couple of weeks, while they’re visiting from Brooklyn. The two partners, Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeffrey Scott Franklin I start each morning with some coffee and a stack of napkins to hash out ideas. Here are a few that have developed recently during our morning conversations. Enjoy!
Cheeming Boey doesn’t drink coffee, he prefers sake. But inspiration struck him while sitting outside a coffee shop that has led to an incredible collection of artwork on a unique canvas – styrofoam cups.
You don’t drink coffee, so what were you drinking the day you first started drawing on cups in a coffee shop? I wasn’t drinking anything, just sat outside the shop, picked up a cup sitting on top of a trash can.
Are all of the cups you draw on previously used or have you purchased new ones to maintain a consistency in your work? The first couple of cups were all recycled, until hygiene became an issue. The cups were not consistent in sizes too, so displaying them as a series of works weren’t pleasing to the eye. So I started buying them. Companies are going to keep churning them out, atleast when I draw on them, I like to think they aren’t disposed of.
Have any cafes been in touch about designing custom cups for them? Yes, some have contacted me, but many times there isn’t a lot of creative freedom. It’s almost like they just need a graphic/ product designer. I didn’t want to fall into that category. I like the freedom I have now. Some were willing to give me that freedom, but the pay wasn’t right, so I didn’t. It was less than what I would sell a cup for. A clothing company also contacted me, and they didn’t even want to pay, because they see it as a privilege to have my designs on their tshirts. I didn’t like that idea at all.
Have you ever considered creating and selling your own products, like reusable mugs for example, with your work on them? Or would you be worried that mass production would decrease the artistic value of your gallery work? If my works were on ceramics, then that’s just another cup. The thing with the foam cups is that it’s so common. Everyone’s held one of these before, before throwing them away. It is that idea, that I am willing to spend so much time on one that draws people to my works I think.
The foam cup isn’t any less durable. For one, the cup will last thousands of years, which is why it is an environmental issue. If you drop it, it won’t break like ceramic would. It’s really is how you choose to view it.
Just because it is labeled disposable doesn’t mean it has to be, right?
Do you still have a day job? Or have the cups allowed you to focus solely on your artwork? Yes, I still work as an animator.
Kate Bingaman-Burt is a professor at Portland State University and she draws the things that she buys. She also drinks a lot of coffee, so she’s drawn a lot of it in various forms. I talked with her to find out more about her coffee buying habits and her work.
How much do you spend on coffee each month? Too much. I live above a coffee shop (www.cremabakery.com) and we have a very active french press in our apartment. I also frequent Contrary Coffee which is right down the street from my office for my morning Americanos. So, again. I am kind of afraid to add it all up.
How many cups do you have a day?Days when I teach: 2 small cups at home and then a large Americano before class starts. I usually grab another americano in the afternoon before my afternoon class.
Who makes your favorite roast? Stumptown!
How important is coffee to your creative process? Pretty important. Recently I have stopped drinking it at night and have been using yerbe matte tea as a substitute. Also, I try to drink more Americanos over regular coffee because it goes down a bit easier. But I am most certainly addicted.
So many of us have the same addiction Kate! Thanks for sharing some of the intimate details of your coffee love with us. Check out more of Kate’s work at Obsessive Consumption or on her Flickr.
