We love working with creative people who are bubbling with ideas and not afraid to embrace different thinking. We love working with Jeni.

After making and serving ice cream for years in Columbus's North Market – GRA+D earned the opportunity to help create both Jeni's first independent store as well as a new production space to keep up with growing demand for their products.

Jeni's Ice Creams is a company built on doing things the right way. They handcraft their ice creams and sorbets in small batches using wonderfully fresh ingredients. The combinations of flavors are sometimes unusual – the results are always fantastic. The design of this project borrowed from that philosophy.

The location for the store was in a building on the National Register of Historic Places located in Grandview Heights, Ohio. Insensitive renovations had left the space lacking any of its original character. The project goal became one of restoring the space to something similar to what it originally was and utilizing design elements that would speak to the idea of a classic ice cream shop. At the same time – there was no desire to be slavishly "historicist" or sentimental.

The new storefront, while quite narrow, was configured to accommodate an "in" and an "out" door (critical at peak hours) – while also creating a glassy display window intended to highlight happy customers enjoying their favorite flavors.

Inside the space combines traditional white hexagonal tiles with sleek stainless steel shelving. One hundred year-old barn siding clads one wall - but it is detailed with a mid-century modern sensibility. Piers wrapped in white subway tile are backdrops for custom light fixtures crafted from vintage milk bottles. A new skylight was created in the center of the space to help alleviate some of the effects of the narrow-but-deep configuration.