Thomas Sturm pulls out all the stops in his self-initiated project for the fictional café The Amma

The Amma, a project by Thomas Sturm, emerges as a deeply personal labour of love. This self-initiated concept for a fictional café and coffee roaster was born during Sturm’s sun-soaked summer in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2024. “I’ve always had a big love for coffee,” says Sturm. “My first branding project was for a café in my hometown, and I knew this was what I wanted to be doing.” As his career evolved into other industries, he created The Amma to reconnect with his foundational passions while exploring new creative territories. Unlike client-driven projects, this had no formal brief beyond designing a bottle label for its cold brew, Amma Heritage Organic Espresso, and creating supporting visual assets. The only predetermined element was its name, suggested by an Icelandic friend. Meaning “Grandma,” the word immediately evoked warmth, nostalgia and a feeling of home. This familial reference became the conceptual heart of a brand that feels simultaneously modern yet timeless – as if it “could have existed back in the days when my grandma first opened her own café,” he says.