When Chérmelle Edwards asked our Editor-in-Chief, Lizzy Okoro, out on a coffee date she delightfully accepted the invitation. Who would turn down a chance to hang with the much beloved coffee connoisseur? Chérmelle, also known as The Coffeetographer, has been making waves as she documents coffee culture around the world. While we've all become accustomed to our Instagram feeds being filled with aerial shots of foam leaves in paper cups, there's so much more to understanding why people worship at the alter of caffeinated drinks. The Coffeetographer doesn't just stop at photographing cafes and the people who patronize them, she creates playlists that evoke the mood of these shops, and tells the story behind the people who craft each cup from the farmer to the barista.
Read on to discover why Chérmelle Edwards is a Daring Creative.
In a few sentences, please tell us about yourself:
I stand as a composite ball of energy, my interests, influences and inspirations are all always finding a voice of expression in me and through me.
When did you decide to pursue your current career path?
When I was six, writing poems for kids in my class. I always need I wanted to be a writer, a storyteller, I wanted to make things up that people would believe in.
How does the city you live in influence your creativity?
I’m bi-coastal. So, L.A. allows me to connect with the free, laid-back, creative energy that’s very L.A. beaches, road trips along palm trees, desert and oh, the beautiful silence traffic here affords you – to wander in your mind while enclosed in a space. I love New York for what drew me there, its kismet energy in the pavement. The synchronicity of events bound by culture is bar none, the city is electric in a way I haven’t found any other city. It makes you not want to sleep, not for fomo or anything but just to keep up with your own self and what you want to create and give to the world.
In your words, what does it mean to be a “creative”?
To exist as a human being that uses whatever art form possible to express a story, your story to the world.
Has rejection ever affected your creative process?
Oh yes. It fuels me. At times, its halted me. Never has it stopped me. I learned early on to not focus on why a person would so much say no, but to go within see where change could be inspired and seek a yes. There’s always a yes out there, it’s the no’s that slow us down to getting to them.
In thinking about the things that you have created, is there something that you hated but the public may have loved - and perhaps purchased?
Actually no, I haven’t ever hated anything that I’ve created. Even if I became unattached to something I made at some point because I know that creating is a journey, I cant fault one process of it, or manifestation of it because I know it guides me to the now, and the future perfect. So, however the synchronicities of life are going to play out together by my active participation in in my life events I can’t hate what I make.
What has been the pit and peak of your week so far? (a low and a high moment)
Low moments are when I’m close but not close enough to a targeted goal or desired outcome. High moments are always when I feel I’ve managed to tap into multiple parts of being an artist. So, it’s not about just looking a part, it’s about how much time did I give myself to authentically be in the kind of space, where I give myself the expanse to create art, a moment where I’m inspired first by the work and then I can give it to the world.
Who is someone famous that you think is killing it at the moment? In other words, is there someone whose career you admire.
There’s a lot of layers to the word famous, but I would say my friend Dapper Lou. He’s slaying it right now.
Finish this sentence:
I want people to remember me as: a ball of creative energy who lived.
If I only had 24 more hours to live, I would: do everything I did today, wake up, daydream, pray, mediate for seven minutes, reach out to a friend, text my recents in my phone log, send some emails, work out for at least 30 minutes, eat well – I had an amazing arugula salad with organic Thompson raisins and non-fat feta today for lunch followed by two gluten free crispy chocolate cookies from Trader Joes - I love those cookies!
I would take a 30 minute shower, re-twist my bantu knots, smile at myself in the mirror, dance to some music that I can’t stop listening to, plan how I’m going to leave the computer to see a short film or a read a short story outside somewhere, think about how loved I am, blind contour a few sketches, tweet, get on Youtube, get on Instagram, tell someone a story, take a nap because that’s living, have two bottles of sparkling water – I love sparkling water more than coffee, go to a coffee shop and people watch, paint my toes, walk in platforms, kiss my parents, email my sister in Ecuador, I think I should stop now, there’s not enough room and its just 3 p.m. daytime and there’s a lot more I’m going to do today. lol
If I had to choose a theme song to represent me it would be: music is very important. Wow. This just made me tear up. But, I’d say Thomas Newman’s Wedding, from The Second Best Marigold Hotel.
For more on Chérmelle Edwards and coffetography, check out her webzine, The Coffeetographer
Photos courtesy of Chérmelle Edwards.