We're proud to have spearheaded an initiative that brings together design forward, generosity driven drinkware brand MiiR and World Coffee Research. Together, we've created a collection of products that directly contribute to the protection and enhancement of quality coffee's future, with £5 from each sale being donated to ther work.
As we've said before, the future of quality coffee is not a foregone conclusion and few know that better than World Coffee Research. The non-profit organisation have set themselves the audacious but laudable goal of supporting the development of varieties of coffee that are not only high yielding and climate resilient, but also delicious. Our latest initiative with MiiR aims to support them in their mission.
Collaborating with two artists, we've created a series of sustainable drinkware to raise both awareness and funds for World Coffee Research. For every item sold, World Coffee Research will receive £5 (EUR 6; US$8).
The first artist is multi-award winning illustrator Lucy T. Smith, perhaps best known for her work with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as well as her commissions for Sir David Attenborough. Smith’s fine, intricate botanical drawings perfectly capture the beauty and fragility of the arabica coffee plant, which is the basis for 60% of global coffee production.
Translating the discoveries found by plant hunters, accuracy in Lucy’s work is absolutely key and in telling World Coffee Research’s story, she wanted to show the development of a coffee plant:
“In my work I have used classic botanical illustration to depict many coffee species both known and new to science, and here I’ve treated Coffea arabica in the same style, showing its main botanical features. Not just a crop plant, it represents just one of many coffee species. All deserve to be cherished and protected, to preserve them and their wild habitats”.
The second is Portland-based Michael Buchino. Injecting colour and vibrancy into the collection, his pieces aim to capture the joyful labor of coffee research—in the lab, in the field, and in the cup.
“World Coffee Research is working in the lab and on the farm to make sure we get great coffee in our cups each day", says Buchino. "With their work, we can count on coffee being a viable industry for years to come”.
Taking inspiration from vintage advertisements, sport illustrations and old how-to short films, he’s created three characters that embody the work of World Coffee Research and its impact at every stage, from the field to the final brew. The Lab Technician oversees the intensive task of laboratory research, whilst The Farmer propagates and harvests the result of that work. And, finally, the Coffee Connoisseur has the luxury of brewing and savouring the results.
As MiiR’s UK distributors, we're proud to have led this project whilst working closely with MiiR's global team and World Coffee Research alongside Lucy and Michael. Following a pre-release in Autumn of 2021, the global initiative has already raised almost US$20,000 for World Coffee Research, with more to follow thanks to today's general release.
Hanna Neuschwander, World Coffee Research's Director of Communications and Strategy, says: “As urgent as coffee agricultural research is, it can feel understandably distant or abstract to many. The MiiR x World Coffee Research collaboration is extraordinary because it lets us hold in our hands a truly beautiful object that reflects the joy, passion, and optimism for the future that underpins the work of coffee researchers. Along with delicious coffee, these mugs hold something else precious—hope for tits future.”
The MiiR x World Coffee Research collection is available via our online shop. They are also available to from a host of retailers across the world, including Black Oak Coffee Roasters (California), Bridge Coffee Co. (California), Camber Coffee (Washington), Coffee Circle (Berlin), Fulcrum Coffee Roasters (Washington), Intelligentsia (USA), Union Hand Roasted (UK).
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