James Squire

James Squire is the biggest selling craft beer in Australia and has been at the forefront of the exceptional growth of the craft beer market in Australia. A significant part of the growth of the brand is due to the experience offered by the range of Brew Bars located around the country. Extrablack was commissioned to work with Cayas Architects on the environmental branding, signage and wayfinding of the Cheeky Squire Brew Bar.

The design brief was to create a unique branded experience that celebrates the life of James Squire and highlights the extensive range of Squire’s craft beers, and to create an exciting “Instagram moment” to generate a customer-fueled buzz around the venue. The signage references both the rich history and the maritime setting through its materiality, robustness and use of natural and utilitarian materials. Signs are largely hand painted by local sign writers directly on brick walls and timber slatted surfaces with the emphasis on reflecting the brand’s handcrafted nature. The Instagram moment is the bottle wall, made up of 2,620 internally lit beer bottles in a configuration that reveals the iconic James Squire crossed shovels.

This venue has proved to be one of the most successful of the Squires’ Brew Bars, turning over 30 percent higher sales volume than anticipated and receiving a rating of four-and-a-quarter stars on Facebook. The bottle wall features heavily in the venue’s Instagram feed and gets regular positive feedback from customers. The bottle wall is also a feature that subsequent Brew Bars have looked to incorporate in their venues.

Design Team

Kelly Mitchell, Ray Parslow (design and art direction); Sarah Magro (design and artwork)

Project Area

14,000 sq ft

Project Budget

$31,100

Consultants

Camas (architecture)

Fabricators

Bentect (signage)