Surface Design Awards – Complete

Humble Crumble is a dessert company with a huge following online. Its new flagship store – opened in June 2023 – has been created using colours and materials that reflect the ethos of the brand, serving the rapidly growing fan base and providing an improved experience for the company’s social-media savvy clientele.

Humble Crumble started operating in Spitalfields but moved around the market into increasingly larger plots as their popularity grew, which developed as more and more people shared photos and videos of their food on social media. The company has taken the homely crumble and using ethically sourced ingredients and fresh branding, reinvented it for the modern marketplace. Through careful planning and a considered material palette, SODA’s design translates the company’s values and identity into the new premises, ensuring the space continues to be recognizable with the brand as it expands into this larger unit.

The design for the new space references both the listed market interior, as well as the signature flourishes of the occupiers. Timber joinery and clay plaster surfaces sit alongside heritage brickwork to create a warm and inviting space with tactile and natural finishes. The palette has been developed to compliment the textures and the colours of the fruit crumble and toppings, ensuring that the food takes centre stage at every step of the process. Care has been taken to ensure that the lighting is suitable for Instagram photography – essential for the client and company feed – and the surfaces have been selected to compliment the brand colours and create a beautiful backdrop for the products.

A generous, curved counter leads customers around the main serving area, revealing the crumble-assembly process sequentially. A seating area is located under a recessed timber arch that picks up on the features of the existing building, with Humble Crumble pink tables that offer a nod towards the brand’s identity. Another, smaller arch contains cutlery and a mirror with vanity-style lighting that is perfect for crumble selfies.

An open door offers a view into the kitchen so that visitors can witness the cooking process that is often hidden away. A central pink island forms the heart of this space where the crumble is made, featuring a speckled Durat worktop, which will also be used for training and photoshoots. Ovens and appliances wrap around the walls in a robust stainless steel, selected to increase efficiencies in every stage of the kitchen operations.

The materiality throughout the space seeks to showcase and celebrate the crumbles, with materials that both compliment the colours of the brand and embody the warmth and ethos of the company values. We considered both the brand colours and the elements inherent to the operation, such as the copper fruit kettles and stainless-steel equipment, including these materials within the palette. Creating a variance of textures and making use of natural materials were key to this project. The assemblance of following materials complete the space:

- The Caesarstone front counter provides a complimentary backdrop to the crumbles once they are ready, providing the perfect setting for photographing and filming content.
- The Pink Durat prep table countertop references the brand colours & concept, is suitable for food usage, and is made from recycled post-industrial plastics.
- The red grandis veneer is a warm, copper-toned timber with beautiful grain which ties together the Humble Crumble’s palette and the tones of the existing space.
- Kvadrat upholstery on the banquette compliments the warm tones of the red grandis veneer, whilst allowing the contrasting pink of the tables to pop.
- The terrazzo flooring is a cool beige with rounded aggregate which offsets the warmer tones and introduces some lovely textures.
- The Clayworks wall provides a warm backdrop to the front counter whilst introducing texture and movement. The subtle pink tone re-introduces brand colours into the space.

- The project re-uses an existing retail space rather than creating a new building and the old brickwork and steel structures are celebrated rather than concealed.
- Low-carbon materials such as timber were selected for their warmth as well as their sustainable credentials.
- Durat is made from recycled post-industrial plastic waste collected from Sweden and Finland.
- Clayworks is manufactured in Cornwall and is made from unfired clays mixed with pigments – both abundant raw materials. This is one of the most low-carbon wall finishes available.
- The upholstered banquette uses the Haku range from Kvadrat, which is Greenguard Gold certified as well as HPD certified. As well as this, it is PFC- and PVC-free and is REACH and Cal prop 65 compliant. It is also made without harmful DMF’s or Siloxanes.

We had to consider lighting demands to suit the clientele who will likely post photos of the crumbles to social media. We selected fittings which would not “strobe” on camera and had to consider surface illumination for photography. We also had to ensure we selected hygienic and easy to clean surfaces to accommodate for food preparation and consumption.

Humble Crumble itself commits to being an environmentally friendly business. Suppliers are chosen not only for the quality of their produce but for their dedication to sustainability, so the dairy is fully ethical, they use Wildfarmed flour which is carbon negative and the vanilla is sourced from an orchard which reinvests profits into employment in the village. Wherever possible, they also use food that is high quality and delicious but would otherwise have gone to waste, such as taking the fruits that 58 Gin use to create their spirits and making boozy, zero-waste crumbles.