Behind the screens: Crowst
Colour helps to define a brands identity. It creates personality, recognition, and communicates a feeling. Every shade carries its own personality; blue evokes trust and professionalism, while red conveys passion and energy. The right palette has the ability to shape how a brand is felt as much as how it is seen. When Crowst, a new brunch spot in St Ives, approached us with the values “honest, welcoming, and rooted in St Ives”, we knew that nailing the colour palette would bring this vision to life.
We explored Crowst’s core values to define how it should feel visually. “Honest” needed colours that felt confident, grounded, and dependable. “Welcoming” needed warmth and softness, creating a sense of comfort and familiarity. “Rooted” meant drawing inspiration directly from the history, textures, and surroundings of St Ives itself.
Crowst sits on The Digey, a busy street that connects Fore Street to Porthmeor beach, so naturally we dug into the history of the area. We discovered that “Digey” comes from the Cornish phrase “Dye Chi”, meaning “Dye House”, the place where fishing nets and sails would once have been dyed and treated using natural materials. This connection to craftsmanship, heritage, and earthy materials became an important influence on the palette.
St Ives also gave us colour inspiration everywhere we looked. From faded Cornish cottages to painted shopfronts. We sampled colours from around the town to make sure Crowst felt connected to its surroundings.
We even looked to the ground for inspiration. The earthy tones of the natural stone lining The Digey helped bring a sense of warmth and familiarity into the palette, balancing out the softer pastel shades.
By pairing muted pastels with the warmer natural colours, we created a palette that feels fresh, relaxed, and unmistakably rooted in St Ives. It gives Crowst its own recognisable personality while feeling like it has always belonged there.
In the end, the palette became a way to tie everything together: the history of The Digey, the colours of St Ives, and the atmosphere Crowst wanted to create. The result feels warm, recognisable, and connected to the place it calls home.
Read more about the project in full, here.