11th October 2012
Democratising the art of creating good food
FITCH has unveiled the flagship store of Cook House, the new retail concept in kitchen and dining appliances sector in Russia. As strategic design agency, we developed brand’s positioning, identity and visual language and translated those into a unique kitchenware retail concept featuring a cooking school at its heart.
Cook House, a new concept for people who love to cook, aims to democratise the art of creating good food with accessible, engaging and comfortable ‘destination’ stores. Owned by Ideas4Retail, the team that recently brought Hamleys, Imaginarium and Mamas & Papas to Russia, Cook House is the entrepreneurial company’s first homegrown brand creation and the first national chain of culinary schools across Russia.
The FITCH-designed store features a culinary school at its heart, where shoppers can not only try their hand at new recipes, but also take home new skills along with exciting kitchen products. From wooden spoons to woks, from soufflés to sauces, the design encourages experimenters and aficionados alike to explore appliances offered and try them in action, browse through the cooking books and think of what home cooking and eating could be like. A dynamic orange line of energy, the Cook House visual language motif, spreads the excitement throughout the store. In-store graphic helps educate customers, explaining how to use unfamiliar and unusual kitchenware and appliances, as well as set the table. The main design principles implemented in the look & feel of the brand’s website were also designed by FITCH.
Says Alasdair Lennox, FITCH Creative Director, “The kitchen is the heart of the home, and in our concept we tried to reflect this on all levels: through the main identity elements – steam shaped like a heart, warm colour palette and fun navigation in the store – through intuitive zoning and merchandising principles that encourage conversation and inspiring master classes, to the personalised approach from staff.”
Said Evgeny Butman, Chair of the Board of Directors of Ideas4Retail, at the opening of the flagship store. “Cook House aims to create a comfortable atmosphere for all those who love cooking or dream of learning how to cook at home. We hope to build a chain that provides everything necessary for kitchen and cooking. Our mission is to increase the number of people who love cooking and to encourage people to cook at home.”
In over eight years of developing projects in Russia, FITCH has worked with a number of industry-leading brands. The collaboration with Ideas4Retail has grown to become a strategic partnership as the companies continue to work on an expanding portfolio of brands.
There are currently seven Cook House stores in Russia, with plans to open another 12 by the end of 2012, and a total of 50 by 2014. The company aspires to introduce a line of own brand products in the near future. Within the Russian market, traditionally split between high-end and budget offers, the middle-of-the-range Cook House is designed to appeal to the growing middle class, making the pleasure of self-prepared food more accessible and enjoyable.