astley was so excited to support with the opening of the Ad Gefrin Distillery & Visitor Experience, located in the heart of Northumberland. The Anglo-Saxon Museum and English whisky distillery celebrates the very best of the region, showcasing the unique heritage, ancient hospitality, arts, and produce of Northumberland. The proposition of manufacturing and installing assets to brand the venue and showcase its rich heritage was a challenge that the team were eager to undertake.
We had the pleasure of working with the renowned design agency, Studio MB, to produce a variety of interior, exterior, and wayfinding signage products. A visual pack including technical drawings for each sign and bespoke item was created by the astley draughtsmen and every effort was made to match the client’s expectations in translating the venue’s heritage into a physical environment.
We were so proud to win Gold in the architectural category of the sign & wrap awards 2024! Click Here to read more!
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Our teams manufactured and installed an array of internal and external branded assets, ranging from pedestrian totems, door mounted signs, parking signs, and wayfinding.
The external totem signs were made from a combination of timber and stone. The stone, sourced locally, was hand-chiselled with an intricate Celtic design extracted from Ad Gefrin’s logo. Similarly, this Celtic design also embellished the internal timber signage, including both door and wall-mounted signs.
The natural aesthetic of the signage truly embodies the unique heritage of the site and its roots - almost giving the feeling of the site being risen from the ground up.
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The main showpiece of the project was the Ad Gefrin roundel. Spanning almost 3m, the impressive centrepiece depicts the brand’s logo in a Celtic design that gives a nod to Northumbria’s Golden Age. The roundel, made from aluminium, boasts an engraved design that was cut out meticulously using CNC technology. It was then finished with a spraying of InnoMetal copper, a liquid metal that can be applied to almost any substrate. This coating provided the roundel with a rich copper finish. This was a technique not previously used by astley but was quickly added to the Kettering team’s skillset. So, not only did this project showcase astley’s technical know-how, but it also provided our team with a new skill!
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Astley have loved working on this project, working on such an impressive site that is also so close to home. We especially love working with brands who share the same values; as a company that values their people, Astley are so happy to share this outlook with Ad Gefrin who are passionate about doing everything to “bring people together”.