Toben tie type, history and legacy together in Gowings’ colourful and playful identity system

Paying homage to the rich cultural context and storied history of the building it occupies, New South Wales-based studio Toben’s vibrant identity for bar, grill and restaurant Gowings exists within the eclectic visual middle ground between past and present. A contrasting to-and-fro, such as the Sydney-based restaurant’s interplay between traditional and NYC-style Italian cuisine, becomes the through-line across the brand, balancing binary states through fluid typography and colour. “The idea for the colour palette was to pick up the colours that are present in the interior,” Creative Director Thorsten Kulp tells us, “but pair them with an additional colour palette to create more unique combinations,” and subsequently eye-catching, purposefully non-complementary hues. “The colour combinations were then applied at liberty,” Kulp adds, “and there is no system behind their application,” allowing Gowings’ identity to grow as the establishment does. Utilising Toben’s wild colour combinations, the studios choice of typefaces is similarly vivid, opting for Recoleta from Latinotype, AlfaType’s Futura Passata, Analo Grotesk from Due Studio and Bold Decisions’ Glossy Display as Gowing’s assorted squad. “These four typefaces were chosen as they tie in with the history of the building,” Kulp details, offering a window into the restaurant’s new offering.