Coffee People: Charles Carpenter, Tekwani Design

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S8: E2

Guests: Charles Carpenter, Tekwani Design Co.
Role: Principle/Creative Director
From: Denver, CO
Online: www.tekwanidesign.com • @tekwanidesign on Instagram

Charles Carpenter walks many paths.

As a human, he actively seeks to understand his own origins as the son of multiple cultures that he’s experienced deeply at different points in his life.

As a designer, he is a teller of tales who uses the skills he has in his toolbox to reveal the hopes and dreams of his clients. He is a teller of tales traveling through space and time and worlds beyond our earthly comprehension who uses his work to uplift the coffee industry as a whole.

As the principal owner and creative director of Tekwani Design Co., he is the captain of a ship that he’s chosen to point toward coffee brands, producers, roasters, and beyond.

As the well-spoken gentleman across from me in the video chat, he’s someone quick with a smile and a love for cats.

It seems appropriate that he named his company Tekwani.

Tekwani is an indigenous Náhuat word for Jaguar. In Mayan culture, the Jaguar travels between worlds, day and night, as a holder and revealer of dreams. Tekwani Design Co. is your guide between the worlds of your story, a brand that reflects that story, and what people need and want. -www.tekwanidesign.com

He is someone who is learning while doing. For Charles, coffee is the medium for his ever-evolving worldview, career, and journey of self-discovery. Through Tekwani Design Co., he hopes to offer grace and humanity to others. We’re all continually growing as humans.

If you’re like Charles Carpenter, it is with a cup of coffee in hand.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Notes from the show:

Being sustainable or trying to do the right thing environmentally is hard work. So is being an ethical consumer. Do your best.
Authenticity makes for a good design. Good design can add value. Designers reveal hopes and dreams.

Charles found inspiration in the wide variety of flavors tasted during his first coffee cupping in college. His coffee journey took another big step forward when guided by the expertise of a barista who explained why he might not need that splash of hazelnut syrup.
“We love this drink, and want it celebrated and appreciated.”

COFFEE DOING GOOD

We chatted about some of charitable efforts that fuel Tekwani’s passion for storytelling, including this special release coffee roasted in collaboration with Roam Bravely.
Click to visit Roam Bravely.
Coffee sales support the preservation of indigenous culture and language in El Salvador. More information on the supported organization can be found at
- https://www.cuidandoalas.org/
Soon, Charles is leaving for Tegucigalpa, Honduras to visit schools supported by El Hogar, an organization providing education to Honduran children and youth in vulnerable situations.

In collaboration with Moru Coffee, Tekwani Design developed the Esperanza Dulce coffee project. 100% of the proceeds from sales of the rotating Honduras coffee go to support the El Hogar programs.
Buy Esperanza Dulce Coffee

OTHER FROM THE SHOW

Check out Coffeeland: One Man's Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug, by Augustine Sedgewick. It tells the story of James Hill, a Brit who relocated to El Salvador to create a coffee dynasty.
From the book jacket: Adapting the innovations of the Industrial Revolution to plantation agriculture, Hill helped to turn El Salvador into perhaps the most intensive monoculture in modern history, a place of extraordinary productivity, inequality, and violence.
Coffeeland on Goodreads
Helvetica is a film about fonts. Check that. It is THE film about fonts. Produced and directed by Gary Hustwit, the documentary dives into the impact of the font on culture and how humans—especially in urban environments—engage with fonts on a daily basis. I love this movie. Learn more and find links to stream the film.
The Bluegrass Coffee & Bourbon Lounge branding by Tekwani Design Co.
Photo Credit: @TekwaniDesignCo on Facebook