The Lion’s Den, Berry
What had always been a longing to run my own restaurant, quickly became my whole world. There’s so many passion stories that are well produced so I won’t bore you with all details, but long story short ; I decided to throw it all in and put my passion for food at the forefront of my focus and put design work on the back-burner for a couple of years.
The role involved directing the food & beverage menu plans, recruiting & training staff, local area marketing, social media strategy and content, stock control, wages & finance and interior design & brand development/management.
Brand Developement
The Lion’s Den seemed a fitting name for I was entering into something very scary and daunting. I’m also aptly named Daniel. A passionate foodie, I’m all about local and seasonal food and being a creative, the menu had to change all the time as well! So being bold was a major part of the brand identity, along with drawing from my jewish-european heritage and love of mediterranean food. Believe it or not, the branding part was the easiest part of the whole project!
The Food
The pictures below are rather self-explanatory, but let me tell you some more! We managed to partner with a local bio-dynamic farmer who was supplying us with beautiful, fresh seasonal produce. Ottolenghi was a major inspiration for our vegetable resourcefulness and presentation whilst the myriads of chef’s I’ve spent time with in my youth have taught me a thing or two about good food. Eliot Collins of Salt is one of my best friends and food teachers. And if I have to be really real, then the Netflix series Chef’s Table has to be mentioned.
The End
Due to my partner experiencing an extremely painful and dangerous pregnancy, I had to put my dreams on hold to care for her and help raise our little boy (who loves to cook). So for now it’s back onto design but you never know what’s around the corner!
Cloud 9 Chocolate Cafe - Now known as C9
I worked with C9 (formerly Cloud 9) from the company's birth, helping them with many aspects of their brand and marketing development. This included:
- Menu creation, supplier sourcing & recipe development
- Branding creative, interior design & in-store signage/graphics
- Video & photo-content direction
- Social media content producing and management
- Packaging design & production
Such a wide range of skills were employed and developed over these few years, which in turn gave me the confidence and desire to open my own venue.
1 year after the initial launch, I spearheaded their rebranding project in order to reflect the industry trend and pivotting of the offering and business model.
Field + Fin
Adventurer and entrepreneur Daz Byrne engaged me to help workshop and refine the identity of his brand. We developed Field + Fin to become the umbrella identity for all of his ventures which focus on sustainability, food, hospitality and adventure. Starting with a beautiful sketch of his, I refined and cultivated series of mockups to help illustrate the power of it’s simplicity.
Thai Berry
As owner of this country Thai restaurant, I sought to give it a country feel with some city branding. I engaged the talented team of Joe Filshie and Georgie Dolling to style and shoot this beautiful series of shots that I used for the menu, window and web advertising.
My direction of this shoot and the overall improvement of the brand was a simple yet consistent one of making simple (yet locally sourced and high quality) Thai food something to be revered and looked forward to, and not just a fast-food alternative.
The use of clean, rustic surfaces along with unique and foreign crockery/cutlery produced a beautiful and welcoming marriage with colourful, fresh food and slightly off-centre composition.
