A jolly coffee bean dressed in red with ruby hair, a happy seven-year-old girl and an unusual character with an egg for a head, a spinning top for a body and a magnifying eye to see things up close. All of this will be waiting to meet families on Sunday 14 October at the biggest coffee machine museum in the world, in order to teach adults and kids alike that small is precious.

F@Mu

To mark F@Mu, the annual initiative designed to get more families to visit museums, official event mascots Matì and Dadà will be teaming up with the MUMAC mascot to take intrepid explorers on the fascinating journey of the coffee bean. As part of the event, the museum has made countless beans from crepe paper and stored them in a huge jar that the kids will actually be able to go inside of.

Mumacito

The workshop will feature plenty of surprises and fun, with the main aim to keep the engagement level as high as possible to illustrate the long journey that the coffee bean makes to go from plant to cup – but also to highlight the fact that the determination and talent of our children are the most valuable thing we have. “MUMAC’s mascot, Mumacito, doesn’t just stop at telling the story of coffee – it also helps children to discover their dreams,” explains Simonetta Foppili, the found of Simabè, a company specialising in hands-on workshops designed to be both enjoyable and educational. Hidden inside the huge coffee bean jar are not only riddles regarding the long process required to produce coffee, but also questions about children who have changed the world by simply believing in their dreams. “Nurturing children’s passions and potential is something that we’re all committed to,” adds Foppili. “Coffee is a wonderful way of showing how something so small can be so precious – just like our kids. We need to listen more attentively to their deepest desires and pick up on their budding talents.”

Small but precious

PF@Mu thinks children are small and precious, but it also thinks the same applies to museums that are not only small, but that fit National Association of Small Museums President Giancarlo d’Allara’s definition of a small museum as one that “has specific features that are different to a large museum, particularly the fact […] that a small museum must be ‘small to their very core’, which means having a focus on attention to detail and forging close relationships with the local community and with visitors.”
The finer details can make all the difference. Details like knowing the history and culture hidden inside every coffee bean, understanding the passion of the people that work so hard to make the drink we all know (the “LaCimbali: TECHNOLOGY HEART HUMAN MIND” exhibition is still running if you’d like to know more) and appreciating the innovation that goes into every espresso machine. It’s about realising that even the smallest seed can be of great value – if properly cultivated, it could just change the world.

INFO

Sunday 14 October (14:00 to 17:30) at MUMAC.
15:00: “Small but precious” workshop for children between five and ten
15:30: guided tour of the museum and the “LaCimbali, Technology Heart Human Mind” exhibition
Free entry while availability lasts. Booking compulsory at mumac@gruppocimbali.com