The Cow Cafe

In 2005 I found myself in Brussels, Belgium. I just finished my thesis at Aalto University in Helsinki and wanted to continue my research and dreams of designing learning spaces WITH children. I ventured out into the city to find an excellent, inspiring cafe, like the one I inhabited near the sea in Helsinki while I wrote my thesis. The problem was this idea of working in a cafe had not hit mainland Europe yet, and I really couldn’t find anywhere to work. One day, I passed a bustling corner cafe full of windows with lots of foot traffic, vehicle traffic and a tram line. All the seating faced the windows, and the bustling street, and I ventured in. It was perfect, I thought. This is where I will dream up my new company designing with children.

It was called  La vache qui regarde passer les trains “The cow that watches the train pass by”, shortened by those who patronized it to the Cow Cafe or Milk Bar! Several afternoons a week, I spent my time here thinking of ideas on what to design and with whom. 

I fell in love with the cafe, its view of the busy world, and the nonsense sentence as a name. So, I decided my new company would have a nonsense sentence as a name, and the animal (reptile) would most definitely be a Turtle as he/she had a prominent place in my thesis work early. (more on that in another sketchbook story) 

The problem is that once we cross the threshold of adulthood, nonsense is arduous, if not impossible. So I passed an art shop on my way home and bought poetry magnets. This would help me come up with the perfect company name and brand!

Over the following weeks, I made sentences moving magnets around on the fridge. Finally, a sentence emerged. 

This was the company’s name for the first few years before the idea of making a website, and then the name was a little long for a URL and was shortened to Turtlewings.

True Sketchbook Story!