Studio Frith’s identity for Jolene Bakery embraces childlike anarchy

Jolene arrived in north London in 2018 with a clear philosophy – food exists to nourish us physically, mentally and spiritually, not merely to fill our stomachs. The bakery and restaurant, founded by Jeremie Cometto-Lingenheim and chef David Gingell as their third venture after Primeur and Westerns Laundry, centres itself around regenerative farming practices and a circular economy. They mill grains from wildfarmed sources, prioritising suppliers who farm responsibly, and every loaf of bread or pastry purchased becomes an active contribution to soil regeneration. When Cometto-Lingenheim approached Studio Frith to create an identity for this new space, his brief pointed in an unexpected direction. He wanted something that would embody the bakery’s forward-looking ethos and commitment to preserving soil for future generations. Frith Kerr, the studio’s founder, translated this request into the idea of children representing the future and hope for a better world – she asked her six-year-old son to write the word Jolene on large sheets of sketchbook paper. The exercise yielded several variations. Kerr gave minimal direction, asking him to write it as he wanted, then requesting normal lowercase and uppercase versions. They deliberately avoided overworking any of it. “I remember asking Frith to come up with a logo which would reflect this idea and for it to look naive,” Cometto-Lingenheim recalls. “When I received the draft, hand drawn by her then six-year-old son, I could not have been happier.” The final selection mixes upper and lowercase letters in a sloping, unmistakably childish hand. Kerr chose it for what she describes as its inimitable spacing and the way the letterforms build towards a crescendo. What could have read as merely cute or gimmicky instead carries a specific quality – open, hopeful, unfinished in a way that aligns with Jolene's rough-hewn plaster walls and simple bentwood chairs.