Jamie Oliver's Recipease: what's the recipe for good design?

As many food lovers in London already know, Jamie Oliver's new shop, Recipease, just opened in Notting Hill. I decided to visit it the day after the opening, to avoid the crowd. This ploy worked to a certain point: the shop looks in fact like the kind of place that is always crowded.

The shop is split in two levels and the space is small, yet it manages to involve the customers into three activities. The first floor has a good selection of cooking equipment, as well as fresh produce and cupboard food, all Jamie's recommendations. This first section of the store works really well along with another element that lures the customers into buying. In the middle of both floors there are in fact isles, where it is possible to learn the basics of cooking through one-hour courses. On the second floor there is more cooking equipment scattered here and there and the final touch: the restaurant, where Jamie's famous dishes are served.

The design of the store follows the latest trend of mixing new and old, urban and rural, high-tech and vintage, big windows and rusted metal. It has a sort of country-home look, with tiles, wooden stools, colourful and creative decorations. The stall-like disposition of the tables gives the impression of being in a food market, within a small town. The seating areas are many and small, which allows the customers to feel as if they were in a trendy little restaurant. Or at least it does, if they can ignore the crowd and the noise.

From a “content” point of view it was nothing impressive, and it is what I expected it to be: overpriced cooking equipment, overpriced cooking courses, and overpriced food. But at the same time, you do get good quality and Jamie's face on it. It is still very inspiring for a cook to visit: there are screens around the whole shop where video-recipes are shown and you get to see people cooking exotic dishes during the cooking classes. It also seems like a good chance for somebody that would like to learn how to cook but doesn't know where to start.

Even though the location is little and the elements many, the designer did a very good job making everything fit in and creating a good space and a recognizable identity. The shop could have easily looked like a mess, but everything works out quite well. In a way it is a lot like a Jamie Oliver's recipe: many good ingredients, short time, delicious result.