BP’s coffee shop brand, Wild Bean Café is known for its authentic and contemporary personality, which reflects South Africa’s creativity and vibrancy.
The recent launch of the Wild Bean Café ‘Design a Cup’ competition is a powerful way of connecting and engaging South Africans in a meaningful way, beyond just providing them with a great coffee experience.
The exciting competition gives young local talent an amazing platform to showcase their skills and help them along on their chosen career of choice. The winners will also have specific market exposure with their faces, names and achievement widely shared across various media platforms.
“Art and coffee are such a natural and trendy partnership, hence our decision to collaborate with Vega to kickstart this initiative. Our intent is to build on this event and make it bigger and accessible to more people in the coming years,” says BPSA’s Wild Bean Café Manager, Danielle Croza.
The winners of the competition were announced at a prize-giving ceremony held at the BP head office in Rosebank on Wednesday 24 July.
The competition called for designers to create a new look limited edition cup which will be available to coffee lovers at Wild Bean Cafés across South Africa. Designers were encouraged to share how a cup of Wild Bean Café coffee inspires and adds to their everyday African vibe. Whether it be the first sip of coffee they wake up to before tackling their daily routine or be it their morning companion before hitting the road on a spur-of-the-moment sho’t left road trip.
Winner, Tannah Renou a second-year graphic design student from Vega in Durban, who took both first and third spot was inspired by the bright colour combinations of the various cultures in South Africa. “With this design I focused on experiences shared by all South Africans. I wanted to tell the story of coffee as it is experienced by South Africans throughout their day. The different styles, colours and personalities portray Mzansi’s rich and vibrant diversity and the light-hearted humour emphasises South Africa’s fun and friendly nature,’’ she says.
The second winner, Barry Beukes who is in his third year studying graphic design at Vega, is an experienced photographer who loves to travel through the rural parts of Africa embracing and capturing different cultures. “I took inspiration from different African patterns and textures from my photographs. The finished product is a combination of the various patterns I encountered over the years throughout my travels through Africa, bringing to life a design unique to Mzansi,” he adds.
“We thank all the young talented designers for submitting entries to the competition. There were so many great designs that it was difficult for the judges to make their final selection. Congratulations to both winners for their standout designs,” says Ms Croza.
She adds: “At BP we are driven to invest in the youth and celebrate local talent, which is exactly why we launched the Wild Bean Café ‘DesignACup’ competition. The competition has enabled us to reach a younger audience. As the first brand to operate from a service station forecourt, we have been game changers right from the start.”
Shevon Lurie, Managing Director at Vega says: “Students at Vega develop and showcase their talents by engaging with real-world brands like Wild Bean Café, and this is one of the reasons why an IIE Vega student is often the preferred candidate among today’s employers.”
The ultimate prize for both Tannah and Barry is the opportunity to have their award-winning designs featured on Wild Bean Café cups country-wide. They also received an Apple MacBook Pro with a full one-year Adobe CC licence.
Launched in South Africa in September 2001, Wild Bean Café sell millions of cups of coffee each year. Wild Bean Cafés are attached to BP fuel stations and offer good quality food, freshly baked goods and espresso style coffees for motorists in South Africa, the UK, mainland Europe, Australia, China and Russia.
Provided Wild Bean Café
