Homage to Rodchenko
A1 poster to celebrate the anniversary of a coffee shop in Moscow. Cooperativ Chernyi is one of the pioneers of Moscow's third wave coffee stage. Quite normally the coffeeshop became something much more valuable, a space for like-minded people and the most perfect espresso shot ever existed.
Each one among the series of posters made for Chernyi through the years is also an homage to some of my favourite artists and their iconic works. This one was celebrating Alexandr Rodchenko's photographs.
Photos by Aleksandr Rodchenko used as a reference. The idealistic views of that era are intertwined with the ideas and ethics of Cooperativ Chernyi, so the choice wasn't random. Rodchenko's Who We Are manifesto seeks to change the aims of artists from expressing their own vision to serving the society as a whole, whatever its needs.
Since the first day of work, Chernyi's ideas include not only best quality coffee, but people growing it. The team maintains direct contact with farmers and builds long-term sustainable relationships, taking care about local societies. The coffee farmer should be at the center of attention, the Co-op pays more than the exchange price for each kilogram of coffee and strives to make farmers' wages fairer and the coffee production chain more transparent.
Work in progress materials are following Rodchenko's visuals quite closely. the dynamics, the togetherness, all of it was important and helped to depict and highlight the corporate ethics of Cooperativ Chernyi. The collective is rather big these days and it was important to first of all mention all of the people who work at the cafe and try to represent all of them on the poster.
