Empire Coffee – Creative Direction, Brand & Ecommerce

Empire Coffee is a specialty coffee company in Doha. It roasts its own coffee and sells it in its stores, online, in supermarkets and to corporate clients. When I joined, it had one store, a loyal following and a brand that hadn't kept up with the business, and the founders were ready to grow.

I led design at Empire for four years as its creative director, working directly with both founders. It started with a new brand rooted in Qatari heritage and modern minimalism. From there it went into packaging for every product, the online store, built in Framer and connected to Shopify through Frameship, and the interiors of eight stores, five of them built.

Along the way I directed the photographers, illustrators, interior designers and developers involved, and set up the email, loyalty and referral programs that connect the stores with the online shop.

Sales grew 250% after the rebrand, and Empire was named one of Qatar's Top 50 SMEs. We still work together on what comes next.