Based on the principles of community and togetherness, The Common Stove is a high-end neighbourhood restaurant in Orillia, Canada. Designed by London-based branding agency Lantern, this new identity will help The Common Stove stand out and firmly secure their place as a leading restaurant in Ontario’s Lake Country.

‘The Common Stove’ comes from the idea of a communal oven and was inspired by a community design project in Slovenia. Here a traditional U-shaped wood-burning stove, known as a kachelofen, was built in a forest clearing and used as a central meeting point to connect three otherwise remote villages. A place to cook, eat and come together.

This U shape inspired the chef’s counter and booth design in the Orillia restaurant with cooking centred around a wood-fired grill; borrowing not only its fuel and its shape, but also inspiration from how the kachelofen’s warmth and conviviality inspires community.

The menu takes its influence from the wood fired grill and elemental cooking with an emphasis on quality and simplicity using natural ingredients locally sourced from the vast forests and lakes.

Forged in the Flames

Every element of the brand identity had to speak of the local natural environment particularly through the use of wood to power the fire. But it also had to fuse the idea of food uniting people and articulate the strong sense of community behind the brand.

Lantern worked with the U shape used for the booths and kitchen counter to create a flexible holding shape reflecting the traditional concept of the kachelofen stove. It inspired the typographic detail, as well as physical elements such as door handles and menu holders.

The colour palette was influenced by the local environment emulating the natural tones of the forests, crystal clear lakes and simple high-quality ingredients.

Even the typography was locally sourced, making use of Canada-based Pangram Pangram’s Gosha Sans. Inspired by eastern Europe and Russia, it subtly referencing the roots of The Common Stove while providing a Canadian connection. Headlines were customised to reflect the geometric details of the logo and the sans-serif details of Toronto’s subway wayfinding. The use of geometric shapes was further developed in both print and environmental applications. .

Research into local competitors identified an opportunity to stand out from the crowd through intelligent, warm and engaging messaging such as ‘Fire, smoke and good folk’ and ‘Fuelling Orillia’ The system also includes symbols to capture the wilderness feel of the area, food gathering and local charm.