Made Right Here: Art For Coffee

Coffee and creativity go hand in hand. From the first sip of that dark nectar, your brain fires fresh connections. Ideas are liberated, and new revelations percolate from your mind’s natural chemistry. Art loves coffee, and coffee loves art.

At La Colombe, we recognize that stimulating, meaningful visuals are key to telling the story of our coffee, our spaces, and our people. Our co-founder JP draws on artistic inspiration when designing our cafes, and we display art in almost every space, whether it’s a mural splashed across a wall, photos by our friends, or the art on our packaging.

And when it comes to our coffee packaging, we don’t outsource our art. This brand is made right here, in-house, and our senior graphic designer Esen Pence is the artist behind it. For more than 5 years, she has manifested our brand – our thoughts, ideas, stories, and dreams – into jaw-dropping artwork. Her pieces are stunning, functional, and versatile, resonating with audiences across print and digital mediums.

For each new coffee we release, Esen practices a deep, refined artistic process in order to design the label. She researches the coffee’s origin, looking at the geography and culture of each place the coffees come from, and speaks with our roasters about the intentions and sentiments behind the choice to source those beans. She cups each coffee, taking into account flavors, aromas, growing conditions, and processing methods. If the coffee was grown in volcanic soil, you better believe she knows the name and image of that volcano.

“My work is about communicating something particular about the coffee,” Esen said. “I always think, ‘How can I communicate the character of this coffee – the origin, the flavors – through imagery?”

The due diligence shows. Our coffee boxes are graced with meaningful, authentic, original artwork that not only communicates factual information about the beans, but also provokes a feeling about the coffee – before ever drinking it. Your relationship to coffee starts not when you taste it, but when you see it. And Esen is playing Cupid, making sure you fall in love at first sight.

Check out Esen’s latest work, the Art of Origin Prints series. High-quality fine art prints dedicated to our most beloved blends. Inspired by coffee, created with a cup in hand.