Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Kuyt.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
When I try to determine the start of my creative career, it’s hard to pinpoint an exact beginning. It is evident that I have consistently found ways to connect with my surroundings creatively since early childhood, and have engaged with many different mediums throughout my life, mostly focused on watercolor and drawing.
At the beginning of my college journey in 2013, I had the goal of going into education, but during my first semester, I enrolled in two electives, Drawing for Graphic Design and Black & White Darkroom Photography. I soon realized that these creative classes were the ones that I was deeply passionate about, and I decided to change my major to Graphic Design and pursue a career in creativity.
In 2016, I began working for Aldea Coffee as a part-time barista, while running their social media and doing some limited design, photography & marketing work. At the time, Aldea was just a tiny startup coffee company, with only 5 staff members in the US, and a small team running our non-profit in Honduras.
I started pulling inspiration from the coffee I was coming to love so dearly, and so I began drawing. Andrew, the co-owner of Aldea, took note of my drawings and encouraged me to continue pursuing these illustrations. It has brought me immense joy to build our brand through my illustrations, and see the way that my work helps to connect customers here in the United States to our greater purpose: our non-profit organization, Aldea Development. Aldea Development does community development work and sources exceptional coffee directly from individual farmers in Honduras.
Over ten years later, I work as Aldea’s Creative Director. The beauty of being the in-house creative for a small business is that it offers endless opportunities to explore creatively. I have gotten to engage in brand design, cafe interior design, packaging design, website development, advertising, illustration, education, sign making, painting, sustainability efforts, and so much more.
We’ve grown from a tiny startup to a full-fledged coffee company, with two cafes, a non-profit in Honduras, a roastery, and a robust wholesale & online presence. We now have 30+ team members in the US, and send over 50,000lbs of coffee out the door each year. Being in this role has taught me so much along the way. It has been a true honor to grow my skills and creativity in tandem with the growth of our business.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My greatest challenge has been my own perception of my creativity. It’s easy to compare yourself to other artists, and allow that to lessen the confidence you feel in your creativity. Imposter syndrome is hard to shake. It has taken many years to truly consider myself an artist, and learn to follow my creative intuition.
I also find that there are challenges to making your creative outlets your “day job”. I have had to remind myself (and others) that art takes time. I’ve learned over the years that I need to allow my creativity to ebb and flow, through seasons of input and output. Often I find that so-called “dry spells” are just part of the creative process, and an indicator that it is time for a season of input—taking time to find inspiration and nourish my creative spirit.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Aldea’s brand identity is probably the thing I’m most proud of. I can’t take credit for Aldea’s growth—it’s truly an amazing story, and would’ve grown without me too, but I am grateful that I have been able to play a role in Aldea’s success and help to communicate their incredible mission with the world.
Aldea’s visual brand identity is based on three words in their mission statement: Explore, Enjoy, and Preserve. I took these words and turned them into a set of illustrations, which I use throughout all of Aldea’s branding. These illustrations really helped bring the brand to life and communicate so much of what Aldea truly means.
Here’s a link to a quick blog post I wrote about the new illustrations last year:
https://www.aldeacoffee.com/blogs/news/explore-enjoy-preserve-a-mission-a-design-a-challenge?srsltid=AfmBOooZIQTPkZagXzRi9Q9-qOkUvhzicofiiYTmgySaP1iBW-XSLiaW
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I think the biggest trend I’m witnessing in the industry now is a move towards all things organic and human-made, and embracing a radical level of transparency. To me, this feels like a response to the prevalent use of AI imagery in design and marketing. I think this is a beautiful trend that calls us all to a higher calling—one of intentional human connection, slowing down, tapping into our creativity, and embracing our imperfections.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aldeacoffee.com
