Here Design delivers strategy and identity for plant-based restaurant Farmacy

Farmacy, the vegan restaurant brand serving seasonal produce grown under the principles of biodynamics, has opened a six-month residency at Chef’s Club Counter in New York. 

Having previously worked with London-based studio Here Design on brand strategy and visual and verbal identity for its restaurant in Notting Hill (London), and a range of brand touchpoints including a plant-based cookbook, Farmacy returned to Here for its expansion into New York.

Here crafted a diverse strategy and identity for the brand’s international development, moving beyond the visual and verbal to a range of in-store and take-home lifestyle products including candles, ceramics and textiles.   

From the soil to the sun and the stars

Where many plant-based restaurants sit within the fast food or café culture market, Farmacy is a high-end alternative, offering sophisticated dining that reconnects eaters with nature and which heals, not harms.

Each dish on the Farmacy menu has been crafted using the highest quality organic ingredients grown on farms in Kent, England or upstate New York, cultured under the agricultural premise of biodynamics.

This ancient practice is based on the understanding that all elements from the soil to the sun and the stars – and everything in between – is connected, with farmers planting and picking produce in line with the biodynamic and lunar calendars.  

Food is medicine 

“At Farmacy we believe that food is medicine,” says Camilla Fayed, Founder of Farmacy. “The process of growing and eating biodynamically is a healing act, and once we see ourselves as an integrated part of the natural world, we can begin to heal the world and ourselves through the food we eat. The result is food that is transformational. 

“Once a well-recognised agricultural technique, our conscious knowledge of the principles of biodynamics – where farmers look to the cosmos before planting and harvesting their crops – has diminished. With Farmacy, we’re reintroducing this powerful practice into modern living.”

To reinstate the principles of biodynamic produce to a contemporary audience, Here Design introduced a visual and verbal identity for Farmacy that rebels against the assumptions of modern eating. Rather than shying away from the complex messaging behind biodynamic food, the brand seeks to educate consumers by demonstrating transparency and unity between farm and restaurant. 

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Ancient knowledge, modern spirit, new technologies

“This is a complex story steeped in ancient meaning,” explains Tess Wicksteed, Strategy Partner, Here Design. “We made the conscious decision not to oversimplify Farmacy’s identity but to celebrate the depth and complexities of this fascinating agricultural practice with a series of hand-illustrated marks and powerful brand messages.”

This strategic approach enabled Here to bring the brand to life through a series of physical elements – from printed materials to textiles and food and lifestyle products – and in the digital world, with films created for use across social platforms. 

Seen across this wide range of touchpoints is a collection of eclectic illustrations crafted by Here that demonstrate the concept of interconnectedness in nature, unified by a single colour system. These detailed graphics are supported by a tone of voice that is empowering, provocative and simple.

Without soil we are lost

To further demonstrate the marriage of ancient knowledge, modern spirit and new technologies in the Farmacy brand, Here worked in collaboration with photographer and filmmaker Mark Read to create two short films captured at Farmacy’s Kent farm. 

Shot through the seasons, these films explore how Farmacy plants and picks its produce based on the biodynamic and lunar calendars by showing interviews with the Head Gardener, Dorothea. Rooted in the wider strategy, this compelling content tells the Farmacy story in the words of the people behind the brand, giving weight and meaning to the identity through an exploration of the core brand philosophies.    

Here Design delivered semiotic analysis, tone of voice, brand strategy, visual and verbal identity, brand world touchpoints, food and lifestyle products, social media content and web design for Farmacy. 

Source: Here Design

  brand identity, Design, Farmacy, Food, Here Design, plant-based, Restaurant