Museum of the City of Volos (pdf)

(pdf) Exhibition Berlin

A look at the exhibition, by Ute Franz-Scarciglia, Copyright MEK.

Another look at the exhibition, by Ute Franz-Scarciglia, Copyright MEK.

The Amsterdam Historical Museum is presenting several objects from their “Buurtwinkels” (neighbourhoodshops) project.

The Museum Europäischer Kulturen is presenting objects from the exhibition “Doner, Delivery and Design” and objects from new entrepreneurs in Berlin

Follow the link to flickR in “media” .

On the second day, we discussed some administrative project matters. In the afternoon, we visited several new entrepreneurs in the districts Prenzlauer Berg and Kreuzberg:

Efendi Optik: Ilyaz-Alf Akman

Lederladen: Selim and Claudia Özyiyin

M75: Fashion shop who sells the label annaMare by Anna Cafetzakis

N A Design: Asiye Kara

In the evening we had our final common dinner in a Morrocan restaurant (Baraka). The third day let some more time to discuss organisational and administrative questions.

Berlin 12/09

16 Photos

 

Copyrights © Ethnographic Museum Zagreb, Croatia, 2009. Photographs by Oleg Moskaljov

Let’s Have a Coffee

Views of Zagreb Entrepreneurs on the Culture of Coffee Consumption

Coffeehouses have an interesting history, dating back to the late 17^th century in many European cities. The first coffeehouse in Zagreb was established in 1749. The coffeehouses of Zagreb were modelled after West European, especially Viennese, coffeehouses, which was reflected primarily in their interior design, but also in the coffee offer. Since coffeehouses were associated with the bourgeois social class, they were being gradually closed by authorities during the socialist regime and used for other purposes. The decay of coffeehouses opened the way to the rise of a new form of space for coffee consumption - the café. It is therefore not surprising that cafés emerged among the first forms of private entrepreneurship at the time of socialism in the late 1970s. Many authors consider that, as opposed to the coffeehouse, which is a product of the bourgeois culture of European cities, cafés are autochthonous Croatian forms of sociability. They are not associated to the bourgeois social class, but to the urban space. Since the 1980s, cafés have developed into popular meeting-points of Zagrebers of all generations, especially the young.

In terms of history, the cafés of Zagreb can be observed from the aspect of institutions, their owners and their customers. To obtain relevant data about the culture of coffee consumption, the research was conducted by application of the interview method. We singled out the most interesting examples to illustrate the subject matter. It this, we found it important to capture opinions of entrepreneurs (café owners and coffee distributors) about the coffee consumption culture, their business innovativeness and creativity, their stories of success and failure, good and bad coffee, their approach to staff and customers. Since coffee plays a great social role in Croatia, we also found it very important to hear the opinions of their customers, to find out which is their favourite café and why, whether having a coffee is part of their lifestyle and what matters more to them - the quality of the coffee or everything else.

(All photos Copyrights © Ethnographic Museum Zagreb, Croatia, 2009. Photographs by Oleg Moskaljov)

Interview November 10 and November 19,  2009

„NO LOGO-JUST TASTE!”

Nik Orosi has been the owner of the „Elis” café in Zagreb’s popular Ilica street for three years. His life is dedicated to working with coffee and he has won numerous awards both in Croatia and abroad. He launched his own business after education at a barista academy in Italy, but he stresses that he learned most in some Scandinavian countries. He wanted to apply the knowledge acquired in his private business and offer his customers the best coffee worldwide. This is why the beverage card of his café contains nothing but coffee (various aromas and types of coffee served as beverage). Design is also extremely important to him, because he thinks that an exquisitely designed interior will attract a different clientele, people having money. He has organised his business in such way that he orders and buys coffee in London by himself, runs his own roastery and works as a distributor for a brand of (catering and household) coffee machines. He believes it is necessary to educate people about coffee, which is why he organises trainings for coffee aficionados (how to brew a good espresso at home) and waiter courses from the initial level to the barista level. He also supplies certain cafes in Zagreb with his coffee. Nik has his own web site and a blog where he wants to educate people about coffee and also tackle some of his problems.

„Coffee is the most important thing to me, this is why my favourite motto is: „Coffee is not only a physiological experience, but also aesthetic, social and intellectual”. My regular customers are coffee connoisseurs, they care about the taste, just like me. „No logo-just taste!”, this is what I offer in my café, as opposed to other cafés in Zagreb!”

Whereas migrational events present themselves dynamically and are subject to great changes, efforts towards a large-scale regulation of migrational movements have increased globally. Hence, industrial nations have particularly implemented new regulation and control mechanisms. In doing so, restrictive migrational policies have been established in regards to securing and controlling borders.

This international conference focussed on correlations of international migration, politics and labour and discussed questions of the formation and regulation of labour migration in modern societies, of the feminization of migration and labour against the background of the global labour market, of varied forms and consequences of female labour in the migrational context in various global regions, of structures, in regards social and labour policies, as well as of the relations between the global labour market and re-migration.

Among  presentations about for instance the global labour market, migration and international labour mobility and woman migrants, the coordinator of the European project “Entrepreneurial Cultures in European Cities” (ECEC) from Amsterdam (Amsterdams Historisch Museum AHM) and the Luxemburgish project partner (Institut de Formation Sociale IFS) presented the  project and the eciec.eu-website, which is an element of special interest in the project’s framework. The lecture was part of a workshop whose purpose was to present to the audience special projects, that have both a theoretical conception and practically aspects regarding the everyday life of a certain target group. In our case, the new entrepreneurs with  migration background (as well as customers, politicians…) represent this target group. After our lecture, the workshop left  room for a discussion. We  took the chance to start a discussion about the project’s aim and the use of a website as appropriated method to reach a target group.  The feedback that we got from the participants was very interesting and useful. It was important for us in order to improve our way of working and planning future steps. The perception of people from outside the project can open new horizons and contribute to new points of view and thus contribute to a more successful project working.

Monika Schmidt, Institut de Formation Sociale (IFS)

Follow the link below to the interview with an entrepreneur from Tallinn, owner of a popular coffehouse chain in the capital city Tallinn with migration background. This interview is a part of the current project research made by the Tallinn City Museum:

Vello

The Estonian capital city is home to approximately 400 000 people of different nationalities. The majority are Estonians, the largest minority Russians. This is due to Estonian history. During the countries independent statehood between  the two World Wars, Estonians formed almost 90% of the population. In 1939 Estonia lost its sovereignty, suffered through occupations by the soviets and the Nazis only to be left in the hands of the Soviet murderous regime. Because of mass deportations to Siberia, many Estonians fled the country as refugees. After the war Estonia was subject to colonialist demographic politics and russification. As a result, Estonians were in danger of becoming a minority in their own land. Fortunately in 1991, Estonia was able to regain its independence. Now there are about one million Estonians left in the world, most of who live in Estonia and form about 65% of the population. Because of Estonia’s painful history, it has never been a conqueror, colonizer or occupier. Therefore it doesn’t wear the burden of inflicting pain into others and subsequently does not have a distinct responsibility to citizens of distant lands. Hence the most common immigrants in Estonia are actually former refugees, who have returned to their native land in order to lead their lives here. On of these fascinating persons is Vello, owner of a popular coffeehouse chain in the capital city Tallinn. The majority of Vellos employees are stundents. Since they are constantly expanding their minds, Vello feels they possess a special kind of power and radiance. The zealous youngsters he has hired offer customers handmade truffles and coffee roasted especially for the cafés. A percentage of the organizations payroll goes directly to the support of different cultural activities. For example - albums by different musical groups have come into beeing with the help of money earned by Vello and his staff.

Have a look and leave your comments, suggestions and questions on the ECEC project’s topic or start building your network.

Frozen doner kebab, produced by Remzi Kaplan, photo: Metin Yilmaz, 2003

Doner, Delivery and Design - Entrepreneurs in Berlin

21.11.2009-28.2.2010 (opening 20.11., 7pm)

Objects designed by Mark Kwami, photo: Rita Klages, 2006

More infos in this document:  mek-ddd-announcement

A group of students interviewing Ali Özsoy (left), managing director of LebensWelt [LifeWorld (Non-profit limited liability company for the promotion of family, youth, work and health), photo: Rita Klages, 2009