Well, Kerli is Estonian.

She studied in Rotterdam, NL.

We met, eventually married and after living in Amsterdam for years we felt we needed a new challenge in our lives.

So we decided to try our luck in Estonia.

And up till now, we definitely have no regrets!

Quiet, peaceful, spacious and lots of fresh air!

We are surrounded by nature, lots of forests and we experience four seasons again.

The country itself is very progressive in e-services which makes a lot of things easier to accomplish.

The graphic design industry here is fairly small though compared to The Netherlands, so we feel there are more opportunities for us to move forward here.

Oh and don’t forget the sauna culture! We love it!

So yeah, we really can’t complain.

To be honest, we haven’t thought about that before, but now you mention it: a lot of girls have been born in our inner social circle recently.

So yeah, we mostly notice it with newborns :)

Of course, you also see it in working life.

For example: the president of Estonia is female and lots of women are in high job positions here.

And as an all-female company, we can now be added to that list as well ;)

Well, we are a wife-and-wife designer duo, consisting of Ilse Solleveld (Dutch) and Kerli Toim (Estonian).

Ilse worked as the resident designer of the music venue Paradiso (Amsterdam) for 12 years and Kerli has a background in digital design.

In 2018 we decided to move to Estonia and work full-time in our graphic design studio.

Most of our clients were in the event industry: festivals, music venues, etc.

But because of COVID-19, we saw that work pretty much come to a halt. However, that did allow us to focus more on our illustrations and work.

As we like to say: when one door closes, another one opens.

We admire Piet Parra’s work and love the simplicity, bold colors and messages in his illustrations.

Big sources of inspiration for us are also graphic novels (Typex, Peter Pontiac, Alison Bechdel), art toy design, music, video games, mid-century modern design (Sybil Andrews), life itself and artists like Martin Kaye (first poster designer of Paradiso), Riccardo Guasco, Xaviera Altena and Justyna Frackiewicz (to name a few).

Overall, we like simplicity in things; leave non-essential details out to get a message across.

Sometimes with a wink, but always to make the receiver smile :)

Yes!

We have a webshop (https://solleveld-toim.com/shop) and you can find us on Instagram and Facebook (both @solleveldtoim).

In theory, you do not have to starve in Estonia.

There are incredibly many fruit bushes and trees throughout the country, in forests and even in a city like Tallinn.

It enables you to eat fruits on pretty much every corner of the streets, if necessary.

Besides that, during harvest times, locals will always offer free fruits from their gardens in buckets or boxes on the streets. Up for grabs, just like that.

This was a total surprise for Ilse when we moved to Estonia.

You can imagine we’re never hungry whenever we take a stroll through our neighborhood ;)

Yes!

We love love love coffee!

Maybe a bit too much sometimes.

We don’t have any fancy coffee machine, just a cheap one.

Although we are saving up for a Moccamaster.

We love to make our coffees special now and then, with a dash of liquor (Vana Tallinn) and some whipped cream.

That will warm you up!

There is a free small gallery in T1, a big shopping mall.

We usually take a peek whenever we are there to see if there is a new exhibition.

Brilliant concept we think to introduce art to people who don’t always think about going to a gallery or museum.

Tallinna Kunstihoone (Tallinn Art Hall) is very versatile and also provides art education in a program called Got Art?

Telliskivi Loomelinnak is a creative area in Tallinn which is a gallery in itself we think.

Lots of things to do and see (for example Fotografiska).

Also, a good one is ARS Art Factory, the biggest center for creating and producing art in Estonia.

And last not but not least, a rough in the diamond and very upcoming is Põhjala tehas in north Tallinn.

A former rubber boots factory site which is now re-invented in a cultural art center.

Very inspiring!

let’s grab a coffee and make some cool art! :)"

Visual identity and branding is by AKU Collective agency.

In collaboration with, Ryan Chapman illustrated the 8 coffee stamps to represent the coffee origins.

We’re huge fans of  Mr. Chapman and admire the fine works of local legend Eiko Ojala.

It is growing steadily.

10 years ago there was just one specialty coffee pioneer.

This is where we found coffee and love.

By the time we started roasting, there were 2 more new micro-roasters.

And by now there are some nice cafes serving coffee from the Barn, Drop, Morgon, Frukt, Prolog, and Mission..

KOKOMO is a family business by now, so it’s just Mari and Roland Põllu.

Roland does everything to do with the production: roasting, profiles, and packaging while Mari deals with pricing, invoicing and deliveries.

We select coffees together and share marketing, training and other coffee shop responsibilities.

Well, Old Town is a must.
But we would invite you to discover the Kopli district where KOKOMO is now located.

Since the end of  2019 when we moved here a lot has changed.

An old industrial area where the first ships were built over 100 years ago and left empty after the Soviet collapse this place has some hidden pearls.

With the current development of our Põhjala Tehas Culture hub and new housing district around the peninsula, this is the new popular area by the seaside of Tallinn.

The wide yield of coffee that’s never the same and finding the ultimate beans and roast..

Haha!

To get things straight - we have always been in the official capital of Estonia, which is Tallinn.

But yes unofficial we have different capitals for different things/seasons.

For example, Pärnu (a resort kinda city) is the capital of summer and Otepää (in the north) is the winter capital of the railway capital called Tapa.

The beginning of Brick was a coffee origin trip to Brazil.

I got so much energy from there and I saw so many different coffee shops/roasteries.

I didn’t expect that.

I expected to see farms and so on but not so many really good coffee shops.

So I started thinking that Estonia, especially Tallinn needs more different roasteries and coffee shops.

At that time the only specialty coffee roastery in Estonia was the place I was working.

To be honest then no.

The name comes from the region where we are located - it is called Telliskivi Loomelinnak which roughly translates to Brick Creative hub.

It is an old industrial area.

I work with very dedicated people, who don’t really think they are working - they are doing what they like :-) and to be honest I only have one colleague - Märten Kuusemets.

So it is basically a two-man show!

I would say a proper grinder and quality coffee is all you need.

That is my secret at least.

"We take our coffee as a berry it is. 

We don’t roast light or dark, we roast it ripe!"

Our company is trying to expanse knowledge about specialty in Poland.

We are taking part in many events and our roaster is a certified judge in various international coffee competitions.

Our roaster is Łukasz Jura.

As I mentioned above he is additionally a judge. 

His coffee adventure started in 2004 when he became a part-time barista.

Below are some of his achievements:

2007 – Polish Barista Champion, 10th Place in WBC

2009 – World Aeropress Champion

2009 – First national judging experience, later on judging in neighbor countries

Since 2014 – WBrC and WBC Certified Sensory Judge

Before working as a barista I was a bartender in a small, cozy bar.

We had a coffee machine and we sell traditional Italian coffee roast.

After that experience, I was shocked when I tried specialty coffee.

I was shocked that coffee is not just coffee but it can be an adventure, a lifestyle.

We have so many tastes and possibilities and I am still enchanted by this ☺

Sure!

In my opinion, the golden rule is to play with coffee.

Try it every day and have a new impression.

You need to play and try it in the many ways you can.

Our history and architecture.

We have also many hidden things that need to be discovered. 

Every part of the city has different stories and architecture.

Discovering them is quite amazing.

For foreigners definitely, the night side of the Cracow is really impressive, even walking through the river and drinking our craft beers ;)

Ohh yes, especially in Kazimierz and Podgórze districts you can find a lot of big murals and also many smaller arrangements. 

Some of them are more artistic and underground.

You can find more of them in not main attraction of the city.

Additionally, I would like to invite you to our cafeteria because we have some murals of Monstfur!

It is quite challenging ☺ You can love it and hate it at the same time.

We have a very divided society, beautiful nature and many people with very good ideas for life.

I prefer to take V60 with me to the forest and make a specialty coffee in a specialty place for my friends.

Nature, chilling time with friends, dogs and coffee in one place.

What more could you ask for?

"In that hard time, I would like to quote the lyrics of the Polish song from the year 1989:

“It will be beautiful, it will be normal..   one day.” 

And I truly believe in that! ☺"