Cooking up a Signage Storm

The first point of call while the restaurant was under renovation was to brand the exterior of the premises, to begin building a buzz among passersby. The front of the restaurant featured two of the distinctive ‘ZAAP’ logos in the signature red made from aluminium trays, acrylic letters, and LED lighting, alongside blocks that featured the Thai flag. Visible from the window were three neon signs that illuminated the outline of the ZAAP logo. These were accompanied by intricate window graphics that run along the bottom of the window and featured traditional tuk tuks and bikes that would be commonplace on any Bangkok road. These were printed on Metamark’s grey back vinyl.

To give the essence of being in Bangkok, this project brought together many different elements that would work to establish a Thai street aesthetic. One of the elements was built signage hanging from the ceiling. Many of these signs featured imagery of iconic Thai brands such as Singha and ChaTraMue. To curate these hanging signs, we utilised aluminium composite material (ACM) bent and grooved on the Zund cutter, and then riveted together to house the LED and printed opal. Alongside these, there were neon signs encapsulated in cages featuring fun phrases like ‘Keep it ZAAPY’.

A feature piece of this renovation was the lightbox display that covered a huge proportion of the back wall. This display featured photography from a bustling Bangkok street that was illuminated behind, to cleverly change the scene from night to day. This lightbox was created from an aluminium extrusion frame where the printed fabric graphic was placed upon and secured with silicon edge stitching. The fabric of choice was UFabrik’s Backlit Textile Eco, or as we like to call it, OceanTex, as it is made from 100% PET bottle waste that has been rescued from the ocean. Aside from its sustainable credentials, this material offers brilliant colour production, especially when printed on by our Efi VUTEk which was vital for the detailed photography that was chosen for the display.

On the opposing wall, there is another print display that features green doors with distressed Thai posters. The doors were manufactured from MDF then painted using Annie Sloan’s painting techniques. The torn graphics that mimicked Thai posters were printed on paper and soaked in tea to stain, giving them a distressed look, where they were then pasted onto the doors.

To give the restaurant a cohesive Thai feel throughout, ZAAP Thai sought our support to develop designs that would feature across the signs, wall graphics, and print displays. Our artistic experts developed unique designs that kept the theme throughout and sourced imagery that was authentic to the region. Aside from the print and build elements, this project also incorporated hand painted murals to add flair to the walls. Our in-house artist, Dulcie, hand painted figures that are centric to Thai culture such as elephants, tigers, and Thai deities.

To complete a project as multifaceted as this one, we needed to bring the whole team along. The team members who contributed to this incredible project were:
David Shackleton – Project Manager
Ed Hillam – Operations
Sam Pratt & Nath Euington – Production
Becca Kelly – Creative Design
Isabel Shanahan – Artwork
Dulcie Swinson-Bullough – Creative Painting

From the initial conversation to the final installation, this project spanned four months, with our specialists completing each phase on time. The client was over the moon with the end result, but don’t just take our word for it, let them tell you.