the gas project

This post has been a long time coming. Al Brown’s The Federal Delicatessen opened a few years ago and has been going from strength the strength. Gas worked alongside Al and architect Charlie Nott to bring a little bit of NYC to downtown Auckland. An ongoing pleasure.

Just to prove not all of our clients are high-flying big-city types, we’re working with the owners of the Lauder Pub in Central Otago on an update of their identity. The image is based on an image we found in the archives of two fellas who used to shoot rabbits from a hand cart. As Lauder is located on the Rail Trail, it’s the perfect place to stop off and have a cold, craft brew to wash the dust off.

Earlier this year we resisted the urge to automatically reach for the black pencils, and instead we dug out our coloured ones to work up an identity for a new recruitment app called mploy. Created by a couple of guys in the hospitality sector, mploy is looking to shake the temp agency market up, and has just launched. 

Frasers cafe is in Mt Eden, Auckland, and makes (by many peoples opinion) the best cakes and coffee in the city. What they don’t do is update their interiors much, it being 18 years since the space was given any sort of love. We were approached, along with Charlie at Nott Architects (together as Two Right Group) to update the space after the building had been strengthened. As well as making the space more luxe, we created a new logo, website and menu design, as well as supplying some tasty props for the shelves, including an early Viner racing bike.

Boost are a NZ based web and mobile app company. They approached Gas to update their brand, with a mandate to keep red in the palette. Needless to say while we listened to the client we also couldn’t help playing, making the identity extremely flexible, which is nice.

Mr Go’s had been opened for just 3 months before an earthquake made the building unsafe. But in that short time it had created quite a following. Now open again, they’re back serving Bao buns, craft beer and cocktails. Named after an early Chinese market gardener in Wellington, Gas were called early on to develop the brand, creating a suite of logos, website, signage, posters and an unhealthy craving for the Kung-pao cauliflower. Welcome back Mr Go.

Aro Cafe is a Wellington institution. Recognised as a highly creative community with a unique mix of students, professionals and goths, the cafe is a hub for the area. To coincide with a new dark interior, evening menu and a couple of Fiona Pardington prints, Gas dug out their black jeans and eye liner, played Cure records and crafted a series of icons for the cafe and associated coffee roasting business. Once you go black, you can’t go back.

We’ve just received these samples of L’affare’s new super premium coffee, in packaging we’d designed late last year. Design by Gas, illustration by the ever-clever Blair Sayer. Robin, fire up the Rocket!

While we sometimes joke about working for beer, in this case we actually (well, mostly) did. Barking Spider is a small South Island-based craft brewery. Old circus posters were the inspiration. Along with a couple of those 7% IPAs.

We’re chuffed to announce a new and more formalized collaboration with Charlie of Nott Architects. Called Two Right Group, it’s a simple way for us to showcase our combined design talents. We first met Charlie Nott when starting concept work for Depot Oyster Bar, and have since become good friends. He shares a passion for great design, good wine, tasty food and craft beer. And fly fishing. But where our passion for trout is, for the moment, spent dreaming of getting some river time (and lessons), Charlie is a bit of a gun. Too bloody right.