Molly’s Café & Bar reopened in 2024 as a reimagined space within London’s Museum of the Home, marking a new chapter for the team at Company of Cooks. Traditionally specialists in managed hospitality for cultural venues, this was their first foray into a fully public-facing café – one that had to stand on its own two feet, while still feeling connected to the Company of Cooks brand family.

The creative direction took inspiration from Molly Harrison, an educational pioneer who shaped the Museum’s learning legacy. Her work championed curiosity, access, and inclusivity – values that became the foundation of the new brand story. The focus was for Molly’s to feel like an extension of that spirit: intelligent, welcoming, and quietly empowering.

The direction began with the story; named after Molly Harrison, the museum’s pioneering educational lead who championed learning and accessibility, the café’s identity became an homage to her spirit – feminine, intelligent, and quietly radical. The concept celebrated this idea of empowered warmth – a place that feels open, inclusive, and unapologetically creative.

Visually, I built a brand language that mixed heritage cues with contemporary East London energy. Collaborating with graffiti artist EPOD, directing the creation of a striking exterior mural that reimagines Molly’s namesake through a modern, artistic lens. Inside, the transformation was immersive: natural brick slip textures met soft pastels, layered lighting, and whimsical ceiling installations of branches and wallpapered rafts. Every decision – from the typographic hierarchy to the menu materiality – was designed to bring cohesion between the interior architecture and the brand’s personality.