Starbucks!

By guest contributor Dimitrios Machairidis

What’s more representative of spring, other than flowers, swallows and music? “The Greek countryside, the passerines that take shelter during spring and summer that fill the place with peppy and lively sounds, played a major role in my design. In a sense [the] Starbucks logo influenced my inspiration. I tried to create something that was close to the logo’s cartoon-like look without exaggerating the shapes and colors.” Haritos Mountoufaris, the Greek barista and winner of the Starbucks paper cup design contest, told Hollywood on the Potomac.

In September 2015, Starbucks launched the Partner Cup Design Contest for its employees in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. More than 350 employees submitted their artwork for the three Starbucks cup sizes: tall, grande and venti. Haritos Mountoufaris from Greece was the winner for the tall Starbuck cup (12 fl oz) design, Olya Ravcheeva from Russia for the grande cup (16 fl oz), and Sandra Margveliani from the United Kingdom for the venti cup (20 fl oz). By coincidence, all of the three winners joined Starbucks in 2014. Olya works as shift supervisor in Moscow. Sandra and Haritos work as baristas in London and Athens respectively.