The word “brand” and “branding” often heard in recent years, as I work on graphic and web design, I naturally think about brands. In some cases, I design for the company or institution itself, or design for goods and events. The thing to think about is “How can I tell the message well”. Messages range from direct items such as product descriptions, company messages, corporate and event information to things conveying the world view using image pictures and illustrations.
Meanwhile, as I met a nice brand, I am introducing that today.
It is Swedish band “Lemmel Kaffe“. Coffee is a very familiar drink in the Northern European countries where people drink coffee nearly 800 cups per year. Fika is already synonymous with Swedish culture, I think that coffee is important as well as taking coffee and cinnamon rolls taking a break with family and colleagues.
In Sweden, it seems that coffee began to be drunk from around the 18th century, at that time people put the coffee nibs in the kettle with water, and drunk the decocted water. This was known as “field coffee” in drinking methods seen by people working outdoors, such as mountain workers and fishermen. Lemmel Kaffe is the one that revived this “field coffee” which is almost no longer seen in the current mainstream of drip coffee that appeared in the 1960s.
And the other day, I went to the event at “UPI OUTDOOR Kamakura” spreading Northern European outdoor culture, that “Lemmel Kaffe” came to Japan.
I love coffee and I almost drink it every day, but it was my first time to drink decocted coffee. Although it was probably the first time to drink coffee that did not drip, the taste of the beans was darker and the flavor was very delicious!
Of course the coffee itself is delicious, but I thought that the worldview of Lemmel Kaffe is very nice. First of all, I will enumerate what I felt throughout the shop.
– The sign on “No Milk, No Sugar”
– Style of drinking at firewood outdoors
– Only one coffee
– Brand goods design of package or poster etc
– People of the brand are very natural and friendly
And the guide to drink this coffee.
I thought that the attitude of “carefully drinking one type of coffee” itself, carefully telling the experience is very nice. In the sense that it conveys the world view, they are putting emphasis on movie production and many wonderful videos are uploaded on YouTube and website.
If I drink coffee in a place like this, it will be delicious! Just what makes me think.
Also they told me a nice story about the birth of “Lemmel Kaffe“.
The founder Rolf and Markus were out fly-fishing in a river close to Gällivare where they live. Suddenly some lemmings approached them. They were really aggressive and made a lot of noise. For the first time, Rolf and Markus tried to hear what they were saying – and Markus yelled to Rolf “It sounds like the lemmings are screaming coffee”.
All of a sudden their attitude changed – and Rolf and Markus realised that they wanted us to follow them. It was like they’ve been misunderstood for so long, and suddenly their voices were heard and they could start executing their mission.
They took Rolf and Markus to a place where they roast coffee beans – it was all quite surreal. They served up really great coffee and told Rolf and Markus the story about how many years ago the first lemming stampede, lämmeltåg, made its way to Africa where the lemmings found coffee beans. They drifted back to northern Sweden with the Gulf Stream – each lemming carrying a coffee bean. Ever since then the lemmings have brought coffee beans here and roast them to perfection. And then they’ve appointed Rolf and Markus to be the ones bringing their coffee to the market. Nice story 🙂 from here more
In addition to the story of their founding, I also asked about design to Rolf who is spending 95% in nature, he has nice sense of design but he did not receive any special education at art school, he just design naturally. He always smiles and told me “I doesn’t intent something, just design whatever I like”.
Although there is only one type of coffee, as many caps of different designs are sold so I ask him why, he answered “It is boring to have the same cap covered when you meet again, isn’t it? It is fun to have various designs!”, Yeah I see.
This time I talked with three of Lemmel Kaffe, everyone is very kind, loves nature, they are warm and friendly. And I was impressed by they enjoyed having a sense of humor, and being with this brand. Respecting their their each roles, they share the same vision and they get along well I thought. I realized that they attract people because the creators are more enjoying than anyone.
It was an introduction of a big charm of a small brand that gets a warm feeling.
Also, an authorized distributor of Lemmel Kaffe “UPI OUTDOOR PRODUCTS” which introduced Lemmel Kaffe to me is also a nice brand. There are pup up stores in Kyoto and Kamakura, I have only been to Kamakura, but it is a very nice shop freshly opened last year. Access from Kamakura station is great. Events are regularly held, Northern European culture, outdoor and delicious coffee. I think that warm reception welcomes guests of wonderful staff here.
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