BT Collateral

How To Get Into Trouble

Big Trouble is located above a bustling market hall off the Denver train line, which inspired us to imbue the space with a sense of adventure and romanticism. The design was influenced by the back alley bars of Wan Chai and Dotonbori, creating a space that mixes grittiness and luxury through the use of materials like wheat pastes and neon contrasted with more luxe and tactile elements like felt and velvet. We worked through all aspects of the Big Trouble project – from naming and identity design to collateral, interiors and signage – to create an experience where users are transported from the hustle and bustle of Denver Metro below them to a space steeped in post-war Asia romanticism.

"Big Trouble is a wonderful, transporting mishmash of styles and visual motifs, creating a never-ending crimson-hued feast for the eyes." 

Big Trouble Bar

Big Trouble Neon and Interior

Big Trouble Pins and Collateral

Big Trouble Menu

Big Trouble Entry Signage

BT Curtains

BT Candles

BT Interior and Curtains

BT Mural

BT Shirt

BT Matches

BT Neon Final Hero

Big Trouble

Intro

Crude. Blunt. Raw. 

Brutø exists at the intersection of culinary, art, service and design. A brash and inventive Michelin Star-winning, 18-seat restaurant concept dedicated to sustainability, the connection with the environment and the origin of the food. The space is presided over by a humble, concrete wood-fired oven – the heart of the space. We sought to honor the space, team and program with a visual system that valued a pure and sharp design system. 

Bruto Food

Bruto Web Static

Bruto Web

Ethic over Aesthetic 

The Id Est team was a constant collaborator and helped guide the evolution of the visual brand to something that more reflected their current standpoint on food and service. We started digitally and because brutalism began as an architectural movement, we wanted to take a very considerate approach to what brutalism is in the absence of materiality. The Brutø Restaurant space is uniquely small and encased in glass so there's this amazing sense of transparency and being able to take in everything at once before you really consider the layers of space and activity going on. We mirrored this on the website by utilizing a single page that essentially shows users everything before filtering and focusing in on other elements. It hides nothing, and there’s a brazen honesty in that approach that matches the ethos of the restaurant. We paired this with 3D elements which gives a sense of tactility and a series of typographic takes on their logo inspired by butalist movements from around the world. 

Bruto Interior

Bruto fire interior

Bruto Interior Fire Holder

Continuing our process of highlighting transparency and materiality we leveraged the innate nature of the space – encompassed in glass –we wanted to continue to capture that light while making the space feel more intimate. We utilized a blend of reeded glass and color-tinting existing panes; creating a dreamy effect as the light dapples through the space while preserving simple, utilitarian materiality. We also developed the updated furniture program including custom steel firewood housing that doubled as a small bookcase utilizing both form and function. For signage, we wanted to eschew traditional techniques  – we adapted a standard construction light that penetrated a transparent acrylic cylinder to create a brutalist reference of the  logo utilizing humble simple materials. 

Bruto Glass Interior

Bruto Food space

Bruto Uniform

Bruto Blade Sign

Bruto Food Menu

For the menus we wanted something that was simple at a glance but allowed the diner to dig deeper into the experience. Because Bruto is a Prix Fixe menu the guests don’t interact with it until they have actually eaten the meal - it acts more as a keepsake and guide from their experience. It also frequently changes based on seasonal ingredients so it has to be easily editable by their team if a designer isn’t on hand. 

When such a focus is placed on sustainability in the restaurant, a lot of the nuance is missed for the diner - how much reuse is in action, how much water is saved, how much waste was reduced and how that plays into your meal. We wanted to present the diner with a receipt at the end of the meal but instead of them considering the financial cost we wanted them to better understand their role and the environmental impact of dining. 

We really tried to bring materiality to the forefront of this project and do more with less. The space is small and unadorned which allows the food and hospitality to take center stage. For us it was always a game of restraint to introduce design that was thoughtful, utilitarian, material driven and stylish without seeming overly adorned or frivolous. 

/ Big Trouble

How To Get Into Trouble