The installation in the form of ten banners sheds light on the history of the coffee trade, provides background on the global coffee industry and provides information on fair trade. Fair trade is a way of trading that gives people from Africa, Asia and South America the chance to subsist from their own work under decent working conditions. The Fair Trade Certification is for small farmers who organize themselves into collectives. Fair trade gives agricultural labourers a pre-defined price for the coffee they produce and it also provides them with a bonus to invest in the development of their community. Furthermore, child labour is strictly prohibited.
The installation is located in the Museum of Gastronomy in Prague in a separate room between an exhibition about small local shops and traditional restaurants.
Preparation of the installation |
750 € |
Photos |
96 € |
Completion of installation |
1154 € |
Material |
42 € |
Fair trade products |
89 € |
Total |
2131 € |
In order to present alternative ways of trading, we wanted to have an installation on the topic of fair trade. We contacted different museums like the Museum of Chocolate and Coffee, but in the end we decided to install it at the Museum of Gastronomy in Prague, which was very open to cooperating on the project. This process took us two months.
The installation was prepared in cooperation with Educon, the Association for Fair Trade in the Czech Republic, and the Museum of Gastronomy. We prepared the texts and the background. The NGO NaZemi gave us authentic photos showing coffee production in fair trade cooperatives. We interviewed people who had visited the local communities that were cooperating with the Czech fair trade organization. The “bitter gold” tool is part of a wider exhibition about coffee. This was also one of the reasons why the museum was eager to host the tool. This process took about two months.
The Museum of Gastronomy prepared the graphic design, and authorized the printing and the final installation on-site. This process took two weeks.
Museum of gastronomy: English website of the museum:
NaZemi: Overview of the Czech NGO:
Wikipedia: List of countries by coffee production:
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_coffee_production
National Geographic: Coffee Map:
www.nationalgeographic.com/coffee/map.html
Blog on global expansion strategy by Alejandro Franco: Brazil's Quality Coffee or Capabilities?:
www.globalexpansionstrategy.blogspot.cz/2011/07/brazils-quality-coffee-or-capabilities.html