Graven Images froths a Progreso

Progreso, Oxfam’s fair trade coffee shop chain, will open three outlets by the end of this year, with graphic and interior design created by Glasgow group Graven Images.

Progreso was unveiled last week as an attempt to develop a business model that ‘closes the gap’ between coffee growers in the developing world and consumers in the UK. It will give grower co-operatives a quarter of the company’s shares, plus a cut of the profits.

‘The brief was not about creating a bleeding heart coffee shop. It’s not about saying Starbuck’s are the bad guys and Progreso are the good guys,’ says Graven Images director Ross Hunter.

‘Most coffee shops are designed by retail designers, whereas we built on our experience designing restaurants and bars to create more of a “social space”,’ he adds.

The shops will use simple materials that can be adapted to a range of store sites and concessions.

Graven Images won the job without a pitch on the basis of earlier work with Progreso co-founder Matthew Algie on the Tinderbox cafes in London and Glasgow.