Make your mark. CRAFT London, a new restaurant, bar, and café in Greenwich, London, aims to do just that. Here Design has created a bold identity to appeal to an urban audience that desires a high quality dining and drinking experience. Taking a fresh and authentic approach, CRAFT London embraces mark-making as its core principle.
“CRAFT London collaborate with world-class craftspeople to roast their coffee, smoke their fish, cure their meats, ferment their vegetables and nurture their contemporary kitchen garden and this close proximity to so many crafts is central to the high quality experience on offer.”
“The brand identity had to convey our excitement about craft itself and to do this we chose mark-making as the overall visual expression of this enthusiasm. Expressive mark-making – in all its different guises – reflects the perfect imperfections and idiosyncrasies present in any handmade object made by proud, imaginative craftspeople. Summing up the relationship between head, eyes and hand, mark-making conveys both the presence of the craftsperson and their role in the creation of beautiful experiences, especially here at CRAFT London where craftspeople are central to the audience’s experience.”
With what appear to be marks from a pen or paintbrush against egg-white backgrounds, the brand is injected with a sense of playfulness and creativity that other equally distinct restaurants lack. The approach is modern, youthful, and daringly unique, perfect for a city environment. Menus are little works of art and totes are one-of-a-kind designer bags. The bright colors and wild artistry fuel the authentic experience one has at CRAFT London.
“Using a mixture of pink, turquoise, navy and black, the mark-making reflects the authenticity of each unique CRAFT London experience – whether it’s the café, the restaurant or the bar. The café uses large brush strokes to convey the immediacy of telling stories and sharing ideas; the restaurant required a more definitive approach, so we used the boldness of marker pen; and the bar where paint indicates a delight in time passing. Using mark-making in this way makes the identity highly flexible for future projects and the overall approach works well to compliment the interior design by Tom Dixon’s Design Research Studio.”
