Violet
I finally made it to my friend Claire’s bakery in London after the release of her book, Love Is a Pink Cake. The book reflects her baking style and the places that shaped her — from Inverness in Northern California, where she grew up, to London, where she now lives and runs Violet. I photographed the California portion of the book in 2022, but until this trip, I had never seen her East London bakery in person — the place where she baked the cake for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding.
I rented an apartment around the corner so I could spend a week fully immersed. The door at Violet basically never shuts. People are constantly coming and going with flowers, eggs, butter, jams, and boxes of who knows what. It smells like caramelized sugar, coffee, and something always baking. There is music playing, dishes clanking, a hissing espresso machine, paper crinkling — lots of movement.
Customers wander in, stare at the case, and sometimes do a full double take when Claire walks through the door. You can feel the energy in the room. It is warm, busy, stylish, and fully charged, but never chaotic. Everything feels cared for without feeling fussy. Being there made the book, the food, and the way Claire works all make perfect sense. Violet is an extension of Claire herself, and it was incredible to finally put her full story together visually.