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Seafarers & Ostro by Inhouse

Opinion by Richard Baird Posted 11 June 2014

Logo with etched illustrative detail designed by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafarers Building

Seafarers is a recently rejuvenated seven floor habour front building located in Auckland’s Britomart precinct that will house, over two floors, Michelin starred chef Josh Emett’s flagship restaurant, due to open in stages throughout 2014, as well as brasserie and bar Ostro.

The brand identity for the building, restaurant and brasserie, developed by Inhouse, draws on the rich history of the spaceonce known as Auckland’s Sailors Homeand its contemporary renovation through a variety of traditional and more recent typographical and nautical detail. This extends across menu design and signage, coasters, newspaper and membership brochure.

Logo with etched illustrative detail designed by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafarers Building

The fine, etched and traditional detail of the illustrative work and its single blue ink in print, alongside the bold geometric patterns and colour of the interior panels, packaging and highlights in print – presumably inspired by International maritime signal flags – make for a distinctive contrast of two quite different aesthetics but clearly bound by a shared maritime theme.

The stencil cut utility given to the Seafarers’ serif logotype and that of the bold, condensed characters of Ostro, much like the pattern and illustrative work effectively mix past and present and neatly references the heritage of the building and its new contemporary use. This theme also resonates through the wood panelled walls and exposed steel utilities and concrete of the building’s interior and the bright colour, modern typography, black and white photography and articles of the newsprint.

Design: InhouseOpinion: Richard Baird.

Logo with etched illustrative detail designed by Inhouse for Seafarers Logo with etched illustrative detail designed by Inhouse for Seafarers Logo with etched illustrative detail designed by Inhouse for brasserie and bar Ostro Exterior maritime inspired patterns designed by Inhouse for restaurant and bar Ostro Interior maritime inspired details designed by Inhouse for restaurant and bar Ostro Interior maritime inspired details designed by Inhouse for restaurant and bar Ostro 15-Seafarers-Interior-Inhouse-on-BPO Print created by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafaring Building Print created by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafaring Building Print created by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafaring Building Print created by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafaring Building Print with etched illustrative detail created by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafaring Building Print with etched illustrative detail created by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafaring Building Packaging with maritime flag inspired pattern detail created by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafaring Building Menu with blind deboss detail created by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafaring Building Coasters created by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafaring Building Print with gold foil print finish created by Inhouse for Auckland's The Seafaring Building