We’re pleased to share that Companion #2 is now available in all GAIL’s bakeries.
Companion is our printed magazine, a space where we step away from the day-to-day of baking to explore the ideas, values and ways of working that shape how we do things. Each issue takes a single theme and looks at it through many different lenses, learning from people whose disciplines sit both alongside and beyond our own.
Cover credits L: Nose Ornament, Colombia, 10th –16th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York R: William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest
For our second issue, that theme is craft.
At GAIL’s, craft has always been central to what we do. But it’s also a word that carries many meanings. It’s often associated with nostalgia, or limited to ideas of the handmade, the small-scale, or the rare. Our experience tells a broader story. Over the last two decades, we’ve grown significantly, baking tens of thousands of loaves a day – and yet the bread we make now is better than it was 20 years ago, precisely because we’ve evolved how we work rather than standing still.
For us, craft isn’t about rejecting progress. We’ve come to understand it through five core elements: knowledge, skill, repetition, attention and intention. These values allow craft to exist at scale – not as a compromise, but as a commitment to making with integrity. We believe accessibility and craft are not opposites; they can, and should, strengthen one another.
Top: Miniature String Quartet, Former Attribution Johannes Cuypers, 19th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. L: Kimono ensemble with Chrysanthemums, Taishō period (1912–26), Japan. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. R: Woman cutting bread with a knife, nd. Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design
But how do others see it? This magazine is our way of learning from artists, designers, makers, writers and cooks and seeing how craft is defined, practised and sustained across different disciplines. By looking outward, we hope to better understand our own work and the choices we make every day.
Edited by Amanda Schiff and designed by Carol Montpart Studio, Companion #2 brings together a wide range of voices and forms: essays, reportage, interviews, poetry, photography and recipes. The content moves between specialisms and settings, from thatching a roof or binding a book to designing jewellery, writing recipes, preserving food traditions and navigating the relationship between hand skills and digital tools.
Throughout the issue, contributors reflect on what it means to commit to making something well over time; how knowledge is passed on; how traditions adapt without losing their integrity; and how craft continues to matter in a world shaped by speed, technology and automation. These are not nostalgic stories, nor are they exercises in definition. They are grounded, thoughtful accounts of people paying close attention to what they do and why they do it.
Top: The Share of Memory. Photography by Simon Martner. Photography L: Barclay Bram R: Elliot Sheppard
As Roy Levy, GAIL’s Creative Director, writes in his editor’s letter, Companion is an opportunity to listen – to gather perspectives that help us think more clearly about the role of craft today, and how it can remain meaningful, generous and relevant as the world changes.
Companion #2 is available now in all GAIL’s bakeries. We hope it’s something you’ll want to spend time with. May we suggest pairing it with a craft-made pastry and a cup of coffee?