About the Artist - Eugenia Tai

 

 

Eugenia Tai is the owner of Pair Cupworks, a coffee and drinkware accessories shop in Downtown Mesa, Arizona.

1. Can you tell us what creativity means to you, and how you see this in relation to being a coffee shop owner?

As an owner, creativity means the freedom to act on all ideas, but at the same time, there's no one above you to tell you what to do. It's a fine line between a fun idea versus one that doesn't make sense. But really, it's the best feeling to be able to pursue those fun ideas!

2. We really love the Minimons! Can you tell us a little bit about your creative process?

The true success of this project began with Anita's vision and her awesome original concept. Her idea to give each Minimon a unique and quirky personality really helped bring each character to life and made the project super fun to work on.

For the dripper, I wanted to play with the idea that its body was very top-heavy making the character clumsy and kind of derpy. Then the dripper's partner is the kettle who is more hip and confident by contrast, but also somewhat motherly since they always need to watch over their awkward friend.

 

The milk pitchers were inspired by the roller coaster of emotions that happen during a latte art throwdown -- one is shakey and nervous while the other is cool and stylish with its leather jacket. The french press is proper and polite but is sensitive about its height and the length of its legs varies depending on the position of the plunger.

We hope you enjoyed this project as much as we do!

I had to remind myself to stop over sketching and stay within the project scope, but yes! I loved working on it and collaborating with Slow Pour Supply! We both have the same overall desire to bring positivity and fun to the coffee community which really manifested in this project!