GUINNESS
I was asked to reimagine the classic pub mirror for a bar in the brand new Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Covent Garden.
The site sits on a large old brewery that stopped making beer in the 18th century. And the bar where this mirror hangs was once the barrel room.
So Guinness asked if my design could celebrate the craft of coopering and the role of the barrel in the making of Guinness as the worldwide phenomenon it is today.
But without the Oak Tree there would be no barrel, so the story really begins with a tree: The Guinness Tree of Life.
The Guinness Tree of Life
Blending Craft, Tradition, Heritage and The Future
I took inspiration from fantastical Persian and Indian Tree of Life designs and created my own mythical Oak Tree.
But instead of acorns Coopering tools like Adze’s and Augers hang from its branches. Pints of Guinness spring out like fruit and Toucans relax amongst its golden leaves.
The result is a mirror uses the traditional form of the pub mirror, a classic of sign painter’s craft, to express something new and exciting about one of the oldest and most popular brands of beer in the world.
