Hi Mark.
It was really lovely to meet you and Arnauld yesterday. Thankyou for showing me around and taking the time to talk through the story of the distillery and considerations around it.
There are so many ways to go with this and I've written down a fair bit here, partly as a note for us to come back to in the future if we do decide to explore some of the things that we discussed.
I've thrown a lot of numbers around, which cover: buying existing work, artworking, and creating new work, so if you can give me an idea of what you would like to do in the short term I can combine things and give you a clearer idea of costs.
Short Term / Existing pieces
I have the original Gin Cat painting. It measures 420x594mm, is painted onto a wooden panel and costs £450. You could fix it to the outside of the distillery alongside some text but would need to house it in some sort of protective frame.
The large plywood version is at Cuemars, just off brick lane and possibly along your cycle from Stratford. I think they have it for sale at a similar price. It would certainly be an eye catcher, and is very good value considering the time spent making the thing. I have to say that it is well painted but not constructed really well, I think it was the first time I made anything using laser cut materials. It measures 960x180mm which is a little too wide/tall for the columns to the right or left of the distillery.
Short Term / Custom printing & making
Another approach is what I described yesterday - We could screen print one A-board and one super-sized version of the gin cat print to attach to the outside the distillery, alongside some text.
The dimensions would be 70x100 cm, which would fit that column adjacent to the distillery very nicely. I can screen print these all onto 12mm thick plywood, and get some process shots along the way for social media. Well varnished they will be durable for a few years.
Plywood: £120
Transparencies: £40
2X Days of my time £606 : This would cover the printing, putting the A board together, varnishing and installation at the distillery and materials not listed above (inks, varnish, screen hire, etc.).
Total: £766 inc. VAT
There is a cheaper way of doing things for the A boards - we have the artwork and we print everything digitally. A quick look online shows one equivalent size A-board to cost £232 + Delivery.
I haven't used companies like this before but their examples look good. I'd charge half a day (£151) for artworking and using existing images in this way.
Flags
I don't have experience with these, but I agree that they would make a really big difference in terms of drawing people into the space.
A quick search shows that printing a pretty large flag is about £80 - Maybe we could talk about this, I think you'd mentioned that you had looked up the price for poles. As with the A boards I'd charge half a day (£151) for artworking and using existing images.
Longer Term / Artwork around Bell Ringing
This would be so lovely to do. I envisage making some sort of bell housing out of laser cut and painted plywood which would be along the lines of a bird box in structure, something very photographable that you reach into.. The pieces I made for the maritime museum are the closest to what I am picturing, but aren't quite it. When the time comes we can explore and I can make some sketches. I think what is important is to have the bell ringing location and process clear though, before we start designing around this. It would also be good to have an idea of budget so I can work out what is possible.
Longer Term / Artwork around Distillery Front
The arch and front could be decorated by fixing laser cut materials to the distillery surround. I think with the right approach (which I suspect mostly has to do with using very few colours) we can make the space elaborate and attract people without compromising the more pared down look of the gin and of the distillery interior. This artwork which I made for a school in Greenwich is made in a similar way to what I am describing. Again, it would be good to have an idea of budget from you regarding this.
Label Design
Again this would be very lovely to make. The cost would really depend on how many we made - if it was a small run I would charge 1 day (£303) for artworking/ image use (if it was a variation on existing images).
A new or sufficiently different design would take me about two days.
I hope this is helpful. I look forward to your feedback and next steps.
Thanks & all the very best,
Tom
07974784838