IT ALL STARTED WITH A DINNER PARTY... no surprise there.
If there is one good thing to have in common with Chef Jeremy Pang (aka Jez)
its definitely food...
It was Autumn 2009 and we were all crowded into my little mezzanine flat in Hampton Wick. I was working in Richmond, London for a multi-disciplinary design consultancy and Jez was putting final daydreams into place by quitting his desk job and chasing his dream of becoming a chef, following in the footprints of three generations of his family.
After { a fair few } bottles of wine I decided to hop onto my computer and the first School of Wok logo was born!
Since then we have worked together for over a decade, designing the fabulous and versatile Chinese Cookery school in Covent Garden which won The British Cookery School awards in 2014, and has seen over 60,000 students through their doors learning the secrets of Asian cuisine.
I have created Illustrations for Jeremy's two cookery books Chinese Unchopped & Hong Kong Diner, visualised exhibition displays, retail graphics, the School of Wok website, and designed the bold packaging & graphics for their award winning grocery and product ranges which can now be found in various high street supermarket chains.
Not only that, but we have gone through a rebrand, a global pandemic {!} and seen Jeremy soar to stardom with his regular feature on Channel 4s Sunday Brunch and more recently a feature chef on BBC 1s iconic Ready Steady Cook. PHEW!!!
Its been one hell of an adventure and we LOVE working with Jeremy and the team seeing how they grow and thrive. They are such an intrinsic part of The Brand New Studio family.
This is what Chef Jeremy has to say about working with Freya and The Brand New Studio;
1. DESCRIBE WHAT ITS LIKE TO WORK WITH THE BRAND NEW STUDIO, IN 3 WORDS
CREATIVE, STRUCTURED, "MAKES MY JOB EASY" (can you keep that as one word?)
{ Typical Jez answer, bending the rules!)
2. FREYA'S BEST ATTRIBUTES (WORK!)
MAKES MY JOB EASY.... haha - just repeating myself here, but really Freya is incredible at not just taking a brief, but helping to create briefs when we as the clients don't know what we're talking about, along with taking CARE of the brief from start to finish, with minimal questions. Freya and The Brand New Studio just GET IT. It's so easy to work with her on design work, whether it's beautiful illustrations for my book, or logo designs and brand work, through to designing product packaging or the interior of the whole school, which to be honest, we have barely changed in 10 years the design was so good! She isn't scared of anything; approaching projects with flexibility, yet always have efficiency and an end goal in mind. Freya's best attribute for me is the ability to be super creative, yet with an immense amount of structure to her work flow, which keeps us all on track!
3. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVOURITE PROJECT WITH TBNS?
OOh - this is a hard one as we have done so many together! Designing the bao bun kits was definitely the hardest project we have worked on, as it was so new to us all - but hey, they are still on shelf and now in over 1000+ major supermarkets in the UK! So I'm super proud of that one... it felt like a real collaborative effort there. But my favourite of all time has got to be working on the actual design at the beginning of the journey, where I had no idea what School of Wok would become. Freya's first designs of the initial School of Wok logo and all the icons and website design that she did for me were an eye opener to what I thought the brand may then become. And look at where it's taken us? I can't thank TBNS enough!
4. WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF IN YOUR 12 YEAR SCHOOL OF WOK CAREER?
Gosh - that's deep... Having been able to build a brilliant small business and a fantastic team of people, including out external agencies like yourselves. It's the people and the dedication from people like you that have given me the most smiles during this crazy last decade!
5. WHAT WOULD YOU COOK FREYA IF SHE CAME ROUND FOR DINNER & WHY?
(or should I bring a bag of ingredients?)
Erm - whatever she requested! Give me a theme (seafood, meat, Chinese banquet, Royal Thai Banquet)... or the lot? I feel like I owe you more than just one dinner for all the amazing work you've done for our business!!!
6. LASTLY... GIVE US SOME GUSH
Freya is the best designer I have ever worked with. She understands her clients through and through and brings out the best of our creativity through simple, yet effective methods. She takes the crucial time to understand brands, before then putting pen to paper and sketching out what she thinks our brand owner vision could be. It's a dream to have a designer like Freya and The Brand New Studio.
Honestly, Jez.. this had me in tears.
... its so important to know that the work I deliver works across the board. I always say 90% of my job is taking the time to learn, listen and understand my clients and the last 10% is actually visualising, and I still live by that.
You can buy both of Jeremy's cookery books Chinese Unchopped (a personal fave) and Hong Kong Diner from the School of Wok website , where you can also now pre-book lessons once again HOORAY! If you are a fellow foodie, have serious cravings for GOOD Chinese and Asian cuisine since international travel has been squashed then this is the place to start. Chinese takeaway has never been the same again since our journey with School of Wok began.. and his lessons and merch make an incredible foodie gift.
~ Read more about the School of Wok's journey here
~ See more of our work with School of Wok here
~ Follow Chef Jeremy Pang and the School of Wok
~ The BEST Chinese sweet & sour dish you will EVER try FACT recipe
~ Book a lesson at School of Wok here
I look forward to the next 12 years working with Jeremy and the School of Wok. I am already working with their sister company 'Curious Crab Productions' on their identity and storyboards for their incredible drool inducing foodie videos. And I know there is so much more on the way!
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