Vice - Coffee and Elixirs
Taking the ancient Nasca culture of Peru as our creative foundation, we developed a complete bespoke aesthetic for Vice Coffee, spanning visual identity, interior décor, original artwork, and styling.
Concept
The visual identity was born from a fusion of steampunk meeting the cultural legacy of the Nasca people. The result is a world that feels simultaneously ancient and invented made of worn brass and desert dust.
The Totem
At the heart of the identity lives the totem. Modelled on archaeological facial reconstruction and ancient sculptures, we modeled a full 3D figure that would serve as the shop's emblem and anchor. She now appears throughout the space and across the brand's touchpoints, a quiet and commanding presence that has become inseparable from Vice and everything it serves.
Process Sketches
Throughout the design and consultation process, our team developed a range of options and directions for the client to explore, challenge, and refine. What follows is a glimpse into the conceptual phase - our sketches, tangents, and ideas played with before the vision locked into place.
Interior Artwork
Fine art has always sat at the core of how we design, so the opportunity to create an original, commissioned piece for the interior of Vice was one we embraced fully. Painted to hang permanently in the space, the work draws together the various threads of the identity into something singulart. There is only one of it in the world, and it lives here.
The Coffee Bar
Cladding the facade of the coffee bar gave us the chance to tell a story in material form. We wanted to honour the full journey of coffee - from cultivation through to roasting and the final pour - so we developed a suite of bespoke icons and signifiers that map that process. Each was routed and finished in tarnished copper paint, fixed to the front of the bar as both ornamentation and narrative.
