Craft project

About

Craft is the all-day restaurant, coffee shop and bakery at Acacia, where emerging Saudi chefs cook traditional recipes with modern techniques and local ingredients. We developed the concept, the name and an identity that knows when to step back and let the food do the talking.

Client

FAS Hospitality

Scope

Restaurant Concept, Naming, Brand Identity

Year

2025

A restaurant, a coffee shop and a bakery under one name.

The concept

Acacia was built as the perfect place to stay, but the experience isn't complete without a culinary destination to match. FAS Hospitality needed a restaurant that carried the hotel's ethos, a place for great food, a vibrant atmosphere and community, while standing on its own. Craft is an all-day dining concept that brings a restaurant, a coffee shop and a bakery together in one space. It fuses traditional Saudi flavours with modern techniques, using fresh, locally sourced ingredients and the talent of emerging Saudi chefs to create a new kind of Saudi gastronomy.

Craft tee worn in the kitchen
Four Craft posters on a ribbed wall
Craft business cards scattered on black

A backdrop, not the main course.

The identity

With art on the walls and food on every table, the brand didn't need to shout. We built a bold, simple wordmark in black, white and kraft, the kind of identity that stays out of the way and lets the art, the interior and the plates take centre stage. The personality comes from collaboration instead, with Saudi artists drawing the characters and illustrations that turn up on cups, bags, sweatshirts and posters, and a menu system that stretches from the coffee counter to all-day dining.

Craft's Guide to Local Cuisine booklet on a marble side table
Craft wet wipe sachets on black and white card
Craft paper bakery bag with a labelled sticker
Craft wrap on a tray lined with illustrated paper
Espresso pouring into a Craft paper cup
Two Craft chefs making fresh pasta

An ode to
the makers.

The name

Craft works like a lab, where passion pushes the food somewhere new. It's also an incubator for young Saudi chefs, a kitchen where they can master their craft, try out new techniques and share ideas with the people cooking beside them. The name belongs to all of them, and to everyone who takes their craft seriously, from the chef rolling fresh pasta to the baker shaping the morning's first batch of croissants.

Back of a Craft sweatshirt with the lounging character
Milk poured into a Craft cold brew glass
Torn croissant beside a Craft paper bag and napkin
Hand carrying a Craft two-cup carrier across a street
Opening a can of Craft Cola
Hand holding a Craft tote bag
Craft pizza boxes in white, kraft and black
Craft apron on a light grey background with the wordmark gliding behind it
Craft lightbox sign on a brick wall

Approach

Before designing anything, we looked at where food and hospitality were heading, from zero-waste kitchens and local sourcing to dining that offers more than a meal, and studied the restaurants already doing it well. That set the bar. Everything after it came from one question: how do you build a restaurant that feels part of the hotel but would still be worth the trip if the hotel weren't there?

More works

AcaciaConcept Design
VeoBrand Identity
ILLNaming & Identity