High steaks: BOND’s identity for Aleph Farms’ cultivated steaks flips food production on its head

The world’s first lab-cultivated steak brand, Aleph Cuts, marks the marriage of two unexpected areas – traditional food preparation and cutting-edge technology. In fact, the core theme of their identity, devised by global agency BOND, is ‘flipping’ – whether that be the brand mark, a steak, or flipping something on its head – and defying expectations of what innovation in cellular agriculture can achieve. The inspiration for this concept came from a conversation with Aleph Farms’s CEO, Didier Toubia, who emphasised that their cultivated steak would retain the delicious taste of traditional recipes, while offering a new way of production. “It would taste as delicious as before, but with a steak that was cultivated instead of slaughtered; essentially, a meal that bridges the old and the new,” Creative Director & Partner Lindsay Gravette recalls. “And this led us to the idea of flipping convention on its head.” Working internationally with their teams across San Francisco, Helsinki, Tallinn, and Dubai, BOND took on the task of branding Aleph Farms’ first consumer product, Aleph Cuts, while also updating the parent brand itself. To begin with, the team looked at the name itself – ‘Aleph’ – which is the first letter of one of the oldest writing systems; it is represented by a hieroglyphic depiction of an ox head. “The Hebrew meaning of ‘aleph’ is the ox,” explains Creative Director & Partner Azi Rad. “And aleph is the origin of the modern Roman ‘A.’ Once we realised that turning the ‘A’ upside down could look like an ox or cow, it set us on the path of the final concept – through these connections, the name ‘Aleph’ is grounded in the foundation of culture, written language, and gathering around a table for a meal.”