Walking around in the green in the middle of the city and figuring out typography Warsaw(PL).
Visit galleries, admire street art and sip blissful coffee in Brno (CZ).
Here we run into Paweł Dziurka a Lettering Artist & Type Designer.
Jerry finds it fascinating what can be done with letters…
Warsaw was once described as the Paris of the East and was considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world until the Second World War, which left more than 85% of its buildings in ruins.
When I went to art school it became even more obvious that letters can be so much more than it seems at first.
Graffiti together with calligraphy and lettering gave me a beautiful perspective- rules and craft combined with unlimited creativity and abstract thinking!
I do it unlit I find a shape that gets my attention.
Intuitively I know that this is it and I start to build from that.
With how they are placed within a word - each pair has a very unique relationship.. and believe it or not, they talk to me.
It’s almost like I feel how they want to be represented.
The shape of the letter is a starting point, inspiration - from that I start a journey into abstraction, sometimes not even caring too much if they are still readable or not.
They become images, abstract paintings.
Do you easily find new projects here as a Lettering Artist & Type Designer?
Also, I do not limit myself to Poland, I’m lucky enough that letters are at the heart of every language.
I collect cameras, albums, and posters.
I love watching how many forms reality can take in the hands of a creative person.
Where do you go for your daily coffee fix?
I start my day by having an aero press coffee in my own kitchen!
They have over 300 coffee shops here!
Oooh wait, this is a different kind of coffee shops ;-)
But still, the specialty coffee scene is big here.
Thousands of parakeets love it here and decided to stay and so did we!
Badeta koffiebranders is providing you with coffee this month.
She had a porcelain grinder on her wall.
Every time we visited she poured in some ‘Douwe Egberts’ beans and started grinding them.
It was a returning ritual and the aroma of Douwe Egberts reminds me of my grandma.
We just in a wobbly car, driving up the hill over winding roads to visit a coffee farm.
After three hours we arrived at the farm just to discover that all the coffee plants were dead and there was nothing to see over there.
However, there was a man up the hill preparing a delicacy over a campfire.
At least, that’s what I thought. I tried the dish without asking more and I didn’t like the taste or structure.
The guides and drives who were with us, also didn’t take a bite, which kind of worried me.
After I emptied my mouth I was told it wasn’t a delicacy; it was a rattlesnake.
I always find it a funny idea to think that in fact you are a legal drug dealer :-)
People need their caffeine, myself included.
Quite normal peeps over here.
Love the beach, but not doing anything uncommon over there.
Did you see some interesting new things?
We were able to borrow it for some time and used it for our cold drip at first.
Very easy to use machine and gives a nice twist to our already existing cold drip.
But the best thing was: we had just opened our third location and threw an opening party.
We switched up the cold drip with our pre made Espresso Martini Mix and it was the best party starter next to our smoke machine and lasers (maybe the ACF can also introduce these).
We will hang around here until we have caught them all ;-)
Visit galleries, admire street art and sip blissful coffee.
Mug after mug after mug!
QB Coffee will certainly help us with this.
It spoke to us not only for its design potential but mainly because it captures our philosophy.
We like to create our products to our taste and taste of our customers, sometimes thinking out of the box, not following exactly the deep-rooted methods.
As we didn´t expect very surprising results we were taken by the sweetness of the beans.
There were several moments where we didn't appreciate the taste of specialty coffee, but nothing in particular that stands out.
Often we are fooled by the flavor notes that appear on the packaging of the coffee.
I personally enjoy trying to find these, but often I find others…
What is your opinion on this?
As with everything, it has its pros and cons.
For people engaged in the coffee world, it is surely more alluring to explore individual coffee flavors on their own without being biased by reading flavor notes set by the coffee producer.
On the other hand, coffee newbies can find it beneficial to learn to identify particular tastes and it can help them understand the coffee better.
Rebelbean, Jokes Aside coffee, FiftyBeans and now QB coffee.
Who else do you think we need to add to this list?
As for other roasteries Mitte coffee needs to be pointed out, as for coffee houses, certainly Monogram espresso bar, Industra coffee, Buchta B and C, or The Roses coffee&store.
As for nature, it is certainly worth visiting the nature reserve Kamenný vrch, Mariánské údolí or the Brno reservoir.
There are also some interesting architectural and historical sights such as Petrov Cathedral or Spilberk Castle or some of impressive functionalistic villas such as Villa Tugendhat, Villa Stiassni or Villa Löw Beer in Art Nouveau style.
Brno has also great gastronomy scene from beer houses such as U tekutýho chleba or Lucky Bastard, cocktail bars such as Super Panda Circus, restaurants like Kohout na Víně or Element, artisanal bakeries like Klásek and many many others.
"As a roastery, we like to maintain very friendly relationships with our coffee farmers, suppliers, customers but also staff.
It is crucial for us to create positive vibes around us and Brno is a great place to do so.
Not only are the people in the gastronomy sector united and helpful towards one another but also people living here are keen on creating a peaceful community."
Imagine this with a delicious coffee freshly brewed by the brothers of Bracia Ziolkowscy.
We all need to go to Warsaw and experience this!
How is this working out between you?
Our PR department advised us to respond to it by saying - “our cooperation could not be smoother. It is both fruitful and satisfying”.
But to be honest it’s a mixed bag.
On the one hand, there is not one person in the world who can annoy you so effortlessly as your brother (or a sibling, but there are just two of us, so that’s the experience we have ).
There is always a risk that a business discussion can morph into a shouting match of the kind that we used to have back in the early ‘90.
Fortunately, it doesn't happen more than once a year.
On the flip side, we know each other pretty well.
We know how the other one works, how he thinks and reacts to the world.
We know what our goals are and they are pretty similar which makes it easier to make all kinds of decisions.
Also (sorry for the clichée) we compliment each other really well, as we always have.
One is a well-organized, meticulous CEO, the other a little impulsive, passionate Head of Coffee.
So, it works ok, we guess.
The Younger one once applied (unsuccessfully) for a job as a postman at a research station in Antarctica - maybe there will be a job opening again?
If those weren’t available, we might have to go back to our previous careers.
The Older Brother used to work as a philosophy researcher before working for various e-commerce companies.
The Younger Brother had a tumultuous post-university life, having worked as an activist, a journalist, and a psychologist at a psychiatric hospital.
A Rwanda natural, a Kenya, and a Guatemala washed.
We’ve had a lot of coffees since then, many of which were better-scoring beans, more unusual processes, and so on.
But those first batches, those first brewed cups were so exhilarating.
There was a feeling - we can do this! We can not only buy other people coffees but also roast them well enough.
Talk as much as possible about what you feel.
Works for us.
What hidden spots can you recommend to us?
It’s far more natural than the left bank, you can have a bonfire there, sit by the water, watch boars and herons, and more.
You might also like a small part of the city behind Ujazdowski Park.
It’s a collection of wooden Finnish houses that were put up there just after the war for the workers of the city Reconstruction Office when the whole city was in ruins.
Nowadays it’s a place for cultural events and NGOs, so you can find many exciting low-key events there, with a series of summer alternative concerts being our favorite.
"Pffffff. Washed coffees will have a huge comeback one day.
Younger Brother’s nickname in high school was Jerry (true story).
And have fun drinking our Kenya!"