Harvest’s hand-cut identity reflects its mission to make meals into meaningful rituals

According to graphic designers and co-founders of Harvest, Jessie Collins and Clara Holmes, making a meal and designing aren’t worlds apart: “They’re both a form of communication rooted in storytelling,” Jessie says. Our studios, much like our kitchens, are “spaces for testing and making, all shaped by our personal experiences and research”.

Developing an interest in all things food-oriented during their time at Falmouth University, the pair formed a joint collective and ongoing project: Harvest, which explores everything that goes into the act of sharing a meal with others. Whilst Jessie was getting her hands dirty at local farms, allotments and community kitchens in the area (hosting monthly feasts that brought people together to celebrate local produce) Clara was working on her final year dissertation, which centred on the act of eating communally, whilst also organising workshops and experiments focused on shared culinary experiences.

Through meals and community workshops, their resulting collaboration – Harvest – aims to investigate “how we eat and what we eat”. A project that stems from a natural pause from a fast-paced city lifestyle, (where lunch breaks have gone to die and we eat anything out of convenience at our office desks), to the pair’s time living in Falmouth, a town “rich with community projects that are making great impacts”, says Clara. So, in sum, the duo were inspired to put their creative efforts towards making meals the “meaningful rituals” they once were.

“Having grown up in a city, I realised just how disconnected many of us have become from the origins of our food. Most of us don’t know how our food is grown or where it comes from, it simply appears on supermarket shelves, removed from the hands that harvested it and prepared it,” shares Jessie. “The powerful thing about food is that there is a lot of potential for change. Simply sharing a thoughtfully prepared meal can positively impact the climate, all while improving our connections to one another.”

With this sentiment, Clara and Jessie started with a series of small interventions in their busy shared studio space, Field Notes, aiming to resurrect what was once a shared lunch hour by bringing people together over locally grown food. This focus on cooking, climate and communal dining has since grown into supper clubs and collaborations with local businesses, the pair’s latest event being at Dill’s Cafe in Falmouth.

The graphic identity for all of these crafty culinary endeavours had to communicate “a sense of connection between people, the land, and the processes of growing and sharing food,” says Clara. To achieve this, the duo “developed a design system that reflects the rooted qualities of farming and the communal gatherings”. Starting with typography, Clara and Jessie collaborated on hand-cut letter forms before they landed on Harvest’s hand-drawn typeface, set in two variations: one inspired by the organic shapes of plant roots and the other by bold table legs. As for their brightly coloured menus, prints and wraps, “Riso printing became the obvious choice to bring this identity into physical print. Not only does it naturally layer two colours, but it’s also a very sustainable form of printing and is food safe, making it perfect for the job!” says Jessie.

Although colourful and eye-grabbing, the project’s identity was always an element to “support a larger designed experience”, says Jessie. “Creating the meals has allowed us to consider all elements down to location, tastes, and smells. We thought that by involving people in the act of dining, the experience would always have a deeper impact than something static like a poster or an exhibition.”

Their learnings from the culinary side of the project? “Chefs, like designers, share a responsibility to create in ways that benefit both people and the planet. Food and design have the power to make lasting impacts, they can bring people together, bring about joy, and start meaningful conversations, reminding us of the value of thoughtful creation,” concludes Jessie.