Chinois (pronounced “shin-WAH”) is a small culinary supply store that teaches customers how to cook professionally with minimal tools. It stands in direct contrast to the “kitchen gadget” stores who sell dozens of tools for specific tasks. For example, it is ridiculous to have a “tomato” knife, a “lettuce” knife, and a “poultry” knife. A single knife, 6-8”, works just fine.

Chinois is named after a tightly woven strainer used to filter custards, soups, ect. The metaphor follow Chinois’s business model, filtering out the misconceptions that a kitchen full of expensive googads is knowing how to cook.

Kitchen is a custom display typeface developed for the logotype, headlines, signage and tags in the store. The bold letterforms are designed to fit together in tightly kerned, tightly controlled groups.