I’ve been working as an art director in advertising and branding for about 13 years now, but I have always been illustrating and experimenting on the side - mostly just personal projects, in recent years I’ve been picking up more commercial work and commissions.

I have a strong interest in classical literature, and ancient art and architecture, and I’m often working into pieces these ideas.

This all feeds into this kind of psychedelic, slightly nostalgic idea of a Mediterranean world that I have.

But coming from an advertising background, I’ve always thought it important to make sure my work is underpinned by a strong concept or narrative.

I also like to have some rules in place when working - if it’s not a brief being set by a client, then I’ll set my restrictions.

Maybe that will be in the subject matter, maybe it’s the composition, maybe it’s the shapes.

Often my work is produced directly for clients, so you can see my work on music covers, editorial content, and other commercial projects.

However, I do intend in the future to start making more printed pieces if I feel that’s something people want to see.

In the meantime, you can see my work on Instagram @fortunatejoaquin or my website fortunatejoaquin.com.

A couple of cups a day, which I brew at home.

I live and work in Kensal Rise, London, and we have a great coffee store called Wildcard where I buy my beans every week.

I really think that collaboration is the best way to produce creative work that goes beyond the expected.

But that only works when there’s genuinely a dialogue there, you’re both contributing ideas and finding where the overlaps and contrasts are.

And the more surprising or unconventional the collaboration, the more exciting the work will inevitably be.

They were often a bit dated, you got the impression they’d been used for some time, or the designs had been reprinted for years.

I liked the illustrations and diagrams you’d find in them - you could tell they’d really tried to limit how often colored ink is used, and how many colors.

They’d always end up being super restrained in their designs, whilst still articulating a point.

"Sometimes it’s best to know when to say something, and when to stop talking."

It's Dawid Zadara and I'm a head roaster from HAYB.

Answering your question, we went there mainly to see our friends from other roasters, and to show people from outside of Poland our approach to coffee.

Effortlessly but always to the point, without unnecessary alchemy when brewing coffee.

At the end of the day the festival ended up very successful for us because we won a Roast Masters competition and people were really excited to see us once again and were happy with the coffees we brought.

I try to take coffee year after year from farmers we have already worked with.

Relationships are as important to me as the quality of the coffee.

We are also not afraid to experiment, if we feel that an importer puts his heart into pulling coffee from a particular origin then we go into that as well.

That's why we will have coffee from China in our offerings soon.

Basically, the roasters in Poland are in good relations with each other, and we noticed that two of them with which we have a super vibe also have names starting with the letter Ha.

We decided it would be fun to do something together.

So one roaster was responsible for the grain, another for the roasting process.

The third is for packaging design.

That's how we did three rounds so that each of us could show what we were about!

These days I'd like to catch a band like Poridge Radio or the Idles in the recording studio, brew them some nice coffee and ask them how they're doing.

Thanks, Jerry for coming to our roaster and for this interview.

He is doing a great job showing roasters from different parts of the world to a wider community.

Thanks and I hope you enjoy our coffees!

"Take care and let us know How Are You Brewing :)xz"

In my previous job as a production roaster, my hands were tight and I felt like I was about to hit the ceiling 😅 so as a solution I decided to go on my own - start roasting by myself and competing in coffee competitions!

My plans are to establish more relationships that could make our business sustainable 🙌🏻 

Then try to experiment a bit and you will know when you're ready for the next level 🙌🏻

There are a bunch of roasteries with almost 7-10 years of experience.

And not many people here compete in national coffee competitions (apart from Aeropres).

But lots of new cafes are opening up so we will see.

There are lots of home enthusiasts who are willing to come for cupping etc!

It’s a cool city with nice architecture.

Lots of cafes and roasteries that you can visit too 👌"

HBCR is directly connected to the owners and employees of this unique place, which in 2016 received the Speciality Coffee Association award as the best Polish Specialty Coffee House.

The 10 years of experience in the Specialty Coffee industry gave start to the idea to founding Hard Beans Coffee Roasters – a coffee roasting plant specializing in the processing of high-quality coffee.

Hard Beans is focused on new technology, innovation, and a creative approach to the product, resulting in our cold brew technology, which we have patented and implemented under the Hardtank brand.

We produce cold coffee extraction equipment and RTD beverages in cans.

We offer our products to customers all over the world: you can find Hardtank in more than 35 countries, and you can buy private-label cold brew drinks produced by us throughout Europe and the Middle East.

When we talk about Hard Beans, we include all branches. The team currently stands at 35 people.

We were co-organizers of one of the largest coffee events for baristas in Poland: PRO-Infusion.

Last year in cooperation with Comandante we organized their competition at our headquarters.

We conducted a study on the optimal storage conditions for green beans.

An article on this topic can be found in Open Access in Nature.

The result of this joke became a limited edition of coffee called 'HaHaHa'.

The three roasters, who are theoretically in competition with each other but know each other anyway, dismissed all conflicts and started a co-pairing (joking, we like each other anyway).

Each roaster did one thing at a time: roasted the coffee, designed the packaging graphics, and selected the beans for the project.

We have been working with the local 'Dom' foundation for several years.

The foundation's mission is to help people with disabilities and their families with diagnosis, treatment and comprehensive rehabilitation.

During the past school year, we organized special practices: every Wednesday, the foundation's mentees helped with production and recycling activities.