Anna Gorvits is a creator: she studied cinema and photography, and now combines her passion for good coffee and painting in coffee illustration. Anna told us the story of her artistic journey and shared her favourite coffee places in Paris.
Fifteen years ago, the first of January, Anna came to Paris. She learned French from scratch and got accepted to a cinema school. She started speaking French immediately – out of panic rather than confidence. Anna wasn’t planning on staying in Paris afterwards – it just sort of happened. After the cinema school, she graduated from two photography schools and worked as an extreme sport photographer. In 2011, she gave birth to a daughter Elise, Dusya for short.
Back in her Moscow childhood, Anna attended an architecture course in «Start» studio and, according to her parents’ expectations, would have to be accepted to Moscow Architectural Institute. Which means, she drew, and she drew a lot. Since she never went to MArchI, she has stopped drawing for – what a terrifying number! – twenty years.
Turned out, her desire to paint and her experience in visual arts persisted. Once after Dusya’s classes – she was five back then – mother and daughter stopped by The Café Suédois. Dusya found a brush under the chair and immediately wanted to draw something. Anna obviously had no paint with her, so she handed to Dusya her cup of coffee – here you go! Ten minutes later, they were both painting with coffee, and Anna started to realise what a brilliant idea it was.
A devoted coffee gourmand that Anna is, she has tried all sorts of coffee on the paper. She collaborates with coffee shops, manufacturers and roasters, journalists and coffee-related businesses. This year, she exhibited her artwork twice and participated in two coffee festivals. At the moment Anna is working on a book about coffeeshops in Paris that will be illustrated with coffee paintings. She organises workshops on coffee sketching around the globe.
Obviously, Anna doesn’t exclusively paints with coffee: it is just icing on the cake. She also creates illustrations for a book of Polina Sanaeva «Black Polo Neck» that will be published in Moscow in November. For the sake of enjoyment, Anna works as a private tour guide in Paris and shares her favourite local nooks with the guests visiting the city. She has been teaching cinema, photography and illustration in Junio-R Art and Science summer camp in Bulgaria for – what a terrifying number once again! – twenty years. She adores her daughter, Paris and good black coffee!
Anna is persuaded that almost every coffeeshop in Paris has a special vibe, lovely baristas and great coffee. That is why it is so difficult to say which ones are the best. Here are those where you are more likely to meet Anna at:
All images © Alina Sepp / Written by Katya Ulitina