La Amistad Coffee Farm

Branding
Art Direction
Graphic Design

La Amistad is a coffee farm located in the border of Costa Rica and Panama. It is about 1100 Ha (2700 acres) of which a 12% is dedicated to agricultural practices focused on coffee, bananas, asparagus and grapes. The remaining land is intented to be kept as rainforest, for the present and future generations.

This farm was founded in 1889, then became certified organic in 1992, which makes them pioneers in the central american organic movement.

I developed their whole identity in a series of meticulous and heart warming sessions with the family and expert copywriter Mariana Urbina.

A project with this magnitude of content needed a series of different graphics to convey information more easily. That’s the approach we took. To lean on a combination of illustration and text, also to showcase the spirit of the family who has been stewards of the land for more than a century. Even though this might sound very serious (and they are) regarding conservation and regenerative practices, they are also very generous and are very influenced by sixties culture, holistic practices and music.

That’s why I choose to stick to loose strokes and typography that can nod to this manual, warm feeling of youth, activism and respect for the heritage.

Above is the main seal of the farm, to be used across all material. As a sign. As a way to support the new product launches, the ventures of the siblings and the new ideas to come.

These five main symbols represent: closed cycles for agricultural practices, genetics of the plants developed in the farm trough the years, power of plants, solar energy and mountain range. These are meant to appear trought the whole brand as they are needed. The place itself plays a big role in the identity. It takes 7-8 hours to arrive by car. It is remote from the noise of the capital, but that’s precisely the point. Simple life, resources and time back to do simple things. This is another influence in the graphics, something that feels very approachable but somewhat trascendent.

Grandfather Roberto Montero
Circa 1956

‘Amistoso’ varierty new coffee about to the planted in a hill. 2019

Grand grandfather Roberto Montero
Circa 1919

The coffee itself has been worthy of many prizes and high rating from the coffee world connoseiurs. You can find it here.

For packaging they wanted to keep it classic. Very close to the offer is found in the market. They sold out their harvest each year, so no need for -stand out- was part of the brief. They wanted a version with a coffee plant and other with the peace-making hand sign. It represents well the two personalities of the farm and their people.

They have another line of products for fresh produce or little processed goods from the farm. It’s a big range of harvests, so I designed something that can have many iterations with different plant illustrations and can integrate the icons to communicate different benefits or personality of the brand.

La Amistad hosts yearly around 500 indigenous people to collect the harvest. In the middle of a lot of farms that produce with chemicals, this is an oasis for honest work with good conditions. This farm is certified as B Corp for their standards of land and people management.

A true example of big scale organic success.