Featured Interview: Ria of CoffeeCakesCafe – Coffee Bean Art There are roughly 400 Million active Instagram accounts. With about 43.5 Million tagging coffee in their posts, half a million are tagging #coffeeart. #CoffeeArt is a growing trend. You’ve probably seen it mostly in the form of latte art, where baristas design fun emblems, symbols, and scenes in your speciality drink. There’s even a World Latte Art Championship. It’s all pretty darn impressive. Ria of Coffee Cakes Cafe is doing something different. Of the millions, she’s one of a kind and, lucky for us, we’ve been fans from the start. We wanted to learn more… The name CoffeeCakesCafe…first job? Coffee Cake fan? Well, when I realized I wanted to post pics of cafes and my love for coffee on Instagram I had to think of a name. I didn’t want to use my name so I just figured that I love coffee, cakes, & cafes and there it was created 🙂 What stirred the initial inspiration for coffee art? How would you describe your work? Shortly after I started posting pics of cafes and latte art I wanted to stir up my posts a bit with some fun coffee bean art. Soon after my creativity just took off, I began doodling and combining my illustrations with coffee. I guess I would describe my work as whimsical, edgy, & spontaneous… When did you realize you were onto something? How many collaborations do you estimate you’ve done? I guess I realized I was into something when I noticed people followed me in such a short period of time. I honestly didn’t think anyone would follow my IG so I’m just as surprised as everyone with how this whole thing took off. Well I’ve done quite a bit. As you can see from my posts pretty much any physical product I design a layout for is a collaboration. I also have random shout outs to various Instagrammers that I really enjoy because it’s a surprise to the featured Instagrammer. Who was the first “big company” to approach you to collaborate? First of all, I’m only doing IG for fun. There is no monetary exchange for any of my collab, features, and shout outs. So I don’t see it as how big a company is but rather about if I like and believe in the product. Unfortunately, I have to say no to many companies who have approached me because for some reason it’s not quite a fit to what I’m interested in at this time. It has nothing to do about how big or small they are. When I feature an Instagram account (companies, roasters, coffee lovers, new cafes etc), I don’t look at how many followers they have. It doesn’t matter if they have 10 or 500k followers. If somehow you grab my attention and I’m captivated, I’ll feature you. Have you had a WOAH moment?! Ha! You might think I’m nuts but honestly, everyday when I see my Instagram account and how many people like and comment on my post is a “WOAH” moment. Are there any other platforms where we can find your work? I only share my creativity on Instagram. At this time I only have time for one platform. What’s next for Coffee Cakes Cafe?! What’s next…? Keep doing what I’m doing because I love it.! Keeping my Instagram account true to what it is and organic. Since I’ve had request from followers if I sell my prints… I’m going to do a “very limited” (signed and numbered) run of my art. Once the prints sell out, it will be retired. So, I guess I can say this is next?! Absolutely! We’ll be looking out for your prints! Keep us posted 🙂 Until then, want to shout-out some favorite local coffee shops? I visit a cafe 2-3 times a week to get spoiled and enjoy an amazing cappuccino, latte, or an intense espresso. Living in San Francisco, I see all the coffee shops in this 7×7 city “local”. I’ll walk from The Mill on Divisadero to Ritual coffee in Hayes or walk over to Jane on Fillmore then uber to Blue Bottle at the Mint Plaza for lunch. I’m pretty lucky that all the cafes in San Francisco are in my neighbor. Love it! Is that where you do most of your art? Or is that at home? Most of the time as I’m doodling I’m drinking coffee – it’s anywhere and everywhere! In just 57 weeks, Ria of CoffeeCakesCafe grew her account from zero to 25.2k! Spending 5 seconds on her site, it’s not hard to see why.
