Guinness Storehouse - The Cooperage

We were briefed to reimagine 'The Barge Café', a coffee shop on the 1st floor of the Guinness Storehouse, as part of our project to reinvigorate the food and drink outlets at the venue.

The architect, O'Donnell O'Neill, imagined using the full height of the space to give the feel of a Cooperage - the subject of exhibits on this level. Therefore, we worked with the Guinness Archive to look back at the original Guinness Cooperage and the barrels it produced. The stencilled fonts that appeared on the top of these barrels were used as inspiration for the identity.

Using the high ceiling we applied a large internally lit sign to give the café more presence within the space. Wood is obviously a key material in a Cooperage so we employed wood in the menu and A board signage, which were authentically stencilled with graphics. Tiles were hand-painted with a mark created for the space and table tops were etched to resemble barrel tops (using barrel numbers from the original cooperage). Loaves of Guinness Brown Bread were to be sold from the café to take home so a roll of brown paper was designed, containing the recipe from which it was made, to wrap purchased loaves in.