TBJ: What is your design background and were you a fan of beer packaging and design before now?

I studied Fine Art for over eight years before completing my masters in graphic design. I actually have a background in Fine Art, which I studied for over eight years. I was taking a break from the rather unfriendly nature of the Fine art world following my degree, while I thought about what to do next. It was at this point that when I first began working in Fuggles Beer Café. 

This was my first introduction to Craft Beer and everything that it encompassed. I became really interested in beer and its production and I was lucky enough to receive a great education from my managers and Alex Greig the owner of Fuggles. It was an exciting introduction.

I found that I met lots of great people. I really liked the individuals that came in to Fuggles; as well as the beer enthusiasts and brewers that were regular visitors, there would often be those that were interested in trying something a bit different.

This was actually the start of everything for me; I was educated in all things craft, and introduced to brilliant brewers.

I discovered that Craft beer people were happy people.

Alex was the first person to champion my illustrative skills. He asked me to create something for the purposes of advertising – for what was then his new business.

I found that I loved the design work and that my technical skills suited the process. I was inspired to look into completing a Masters in Graphic Design and fortunate to be accepted into the Florence Institute of Design International.

TBJ: How did you into get into illustration and how did your relationship with Fuggles and, subsequently, Pig & Porter, come about?

I am lucky because Art has always had a strong presence within my life, my parents are both very artistic and music and art have both played an important role in my upbringing and education.

Prior to focusing on Illustration and Graphic Design I worked as a painter and a sculptor so I have always been interested in all things artistic. During my time in Florence I stayed in contact with Alex and continued to create design work for Fuggles Beer Café.

For the final project of my Masters I designed my own brief, which I knew I wanted to be focused on Craft Beer. Alex put me in touch with Robin and Sean and it just so happened that at this time they were planning on re-branding Pig and Porter.

The guys were interested in the work I was producing and so were kind enough to meet with me and allow me to interview them about the things that they wanted for their branding.

TBJ: When it came to your work for Pig & Porter, what was the inspiration for the designs? Did you draw on the work of anyone you admire in the industry, or outside of it, at all?

I wanted to create something that I felt reflected Robin and Sean, something professional and identifiable but without creating something too ‘corporate’ or serious, as their story is a very ‘craft’ one and they are two of the nicest people you could hope to meet.

There are so many people I admire within the industry; it was the designers working specifically within the Craft beer industry that inspired me to want to develop my own skills.

For the Pig and Porter rebrand I would say I was inspired namely by the Designs of Beavertown – Nick Dwyer whom I know you have already spoken with, as well as, The Wild Beer Company and Brew By Numbers.

My intention was to capture the elements that I greatly admired from the designs of these great brewers – the illustrative element of Beavertown, the clean and apparent simplicity of Wild Beer and the system behind Brew By Numbers.