A la Mode Pies — Seattle, WA
For A La Mode Pies’ (Seattle Magazine’s 2011 “Seattle Best Dessert”) first brick-and-mortar location, WT’s interior design and graphic design team worked intimately with “Pie Guy” Chris Porter to create a new community gathering place that embodies the essence of his brand: hand-crafted, personal, and inviting, a nod to the past, but still resolutely modern. The result is a cozy (853sf!) yet open, airy space with a sense of history – a place that reflects the homey nature of pie, without feeling contrived. The café and bakery feature timeless materials but also embody the core of sustainable design with reclaimed and salvaged materials and energy efficient fixtures. A glass wall between bakery and café creates a “theater kitchen,” where customers can watch the pie-crafting magic in action, and open transom panels at the top allow the heady smell of pie to waft through the space. For our graphic designer, the challenge was to craft an environmental graphics suite to help brand a space dedicated to pie, from the exterior blade sign and hand-chalked menu boards to invitations, business cards, and even custom tees with witty pie-isms.