This weekend finally sees a project we’ve been working on for a good few months now, come to life.
The latest project from the De Giorgi family, this was supposed to open at the same time as the magnificent Pasqualino’s, but saw delay after delay.
We have been working closely with the family and the superb xsite architecture, to create something radically different for the city. Printing bespoke artwork onto heavily rusted steel sheets, wrapping huge areas in the 9Bar artwork and creating signage from the ground up, the place has to be seen up close. Of course, the coffee / snacks / beers will be second to none as well. With complimentary WiFi to boot, we can see this quickly becoming quite the hangout, and a welcome addition to Newcastle’s somewhat stale café culture.
The doors to this incredible little coffee house will be flung open this week, to coincide with the Theatre Royal’s Birthday Blaze, so get yourselves down from Thursday at around 5pm to see what we’re so excited about!
A couple of sneak peeks below.


You can find 9Bar Coffee on Twitter here.
We’ve certainly been lucky this year, building closer relationships with some of our overseas clients, namely Graniph, Japan, who back in September invited us over to hold an exhibition of Reluctant Hero graphics, in their Harajuku store, Tokyo.
Having delivered seasonal graphics to Graniph for quite a while now, we were honoured that they wanted a showcase of our work in the gallery. Massive thanks to everybody at Graniph for the invite and the hospitality!
More photos after the link.


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Back at the start of 2011, we were approached by the De Giorgi family (Gusto UK) to work with them on a huge new venture located on the Grade 1 listed site of the Theatre Royal. We worked with them from the ground up, on contemporary Italian Bar-Restaurant PASQUALINO’S, and coffee shop 9-BAR COFFEE.
Working alongside Xsite Architecture and Signtrade, we started the project with a branding process, overseeing all signage, and finally the design and installation of the interior artwork.
The walls and huge ceiling of Pasqualino’s are layered up with vintage Italian posters, food packaging and ephemera all reworked and redrawn with the Pasqualino’s branding. Called on for our signature style, we have helped Gusto UK realise their vision of a truly unique contemporary venue, and a first for Newcastle’s city centre.
Make sure you get down for some Salumi and the finest selection of beverages you are likely to find!
Pasqualinos, 100 Grey Street, NE1 6BR.
More photos after the link.



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Newcastle Gateshead’s BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art recently took delivery of a whole load of t-shirts from R.Hero.
The shop at the BALTIC stocks all sorts of wonderful products, and we’re proud to have our specially designed
t-shirt added to that inventory!
More info on the BALTIC shop here.

Over the Summer months you may have noticed our in-house brand Electrik Sheep, in Topshop Newcastle. They paid us a visit back in 2010, and included us in this Best of Newcastle guide, before asking us to be part of their flagship store in July ’11.
You’ll find familiar designs amongst a good selection of exclusives, so pop down to the Upper Mall, Eldon Square Newcastle to check it out!


We’re no strangers to working with clients all over the world, and some of our strongest bonds are held on the furthest corners of the globe. One of our long term relationships is 2K By Gingham, based in Japan and Southern California.
They’ve just shown their love for the UK by giving us ‘Tee of the Day’ with our ‘Fools Paradise‘ tee, in both mens & womens.
Thanks guys! Much appreciated.
http://j.mp/mph6mx
There are many changes afoot at 22 Pink Lane as we speak, slowly but surely we’re mixing up our studio / store / gallery units and moving Reluctant Hero upstairs. Yes, that finally means daylight, and a clear presence on our melting pot home Pink Lane.
There’s a lot to be done but here’s a start :

The Drum is a national magazine focusing on the latest news in all creative fields. At the end of 2010 we were proud to be awarded best Design Agency in the annual Drum honours, for our work in California at the US Open of Surfing.
Click the images below to see the article.



Design Event is an annual programme of design based exhibitions, talks and events across the North East of England. Going from strength to strength every year, it continues to showcase the regions creative talent and give credit to those coming up with innovative ideas, products, and services.
This year we were honoured to be asked to design the Design Event Mart award, to be given to 3 chosen winners at this years festival’s Mart, held at the Baltic. Crongrats to those who were selected !
Click here to view the whole project and more images.

Here’s a sneak peak at a great little project we’ve been working on this last month… more will be revealed soon!

Back in 2009 we were asked to work on a series of snowboards for a brand we’re all fond of in the winter sports world, Ride Snowboards. It’s always an honour to work on a project where the subject matter is already a passion, so this was amazing opportunity for us.
Click here to view the full project page.

We’ve been working on a large delivery for a fashion brand this week, pretty illustration heavy work!




Our Selected Work section is updated, with our latest wall installations at a new concept store, showcasing Gap + Keds products, Fifth Avenue, New York. Our designs flank the entrance, and provide a backdrop for the product in-store.
See more here.

We’ve just returned from an amazing trip to New York, where we’ve been working on a showroom installation for sneaker giant Keds.
We were asked to plan and design 4 large walls inside the showroom, which were torn and layered up to give the walls a much more tactile finish than traditional wallpaper. More pictures of each wall coming soon…

We’ve just finished a complete branding project, and full website design, for Wirz Herbs.
Read about the company here, and keep your eyes peeled for their product when it launches, we’re also dealing with all of the packaging solutions.


One of the latest additions to our store, Electrik Sheep, is the Independant Only NY Inc. based in Manhattan. Being on the same wavelength as these guys, we’re proud to be stocking their products, and the Newcastle crowd seem to be into it too, check out more over at their blog here (the rest is worth a read too).

We recently worked on these embroidered badges for clothing brand Chukka, used across a range of Mens and Womens polo shirts, you can see more over at Chukka Clothing.


“Every fortnight The Drum magazine gathers the latest industry news, views and analysis and distills it into a single, easy-to-read informative package. Not only does it aim to inform, it aims to entertain too. And it shows creative work and ideas in a way that does them justice – something the small screen doesn’t always do”.
This issue of The Drum features a lovely article on our studio and store / gallery, check it out at thedrum.co.uk, or in print form at your nearest magazine store !

Another sample of one of our new designs from Graniph, Japan, just landed. This time a classic collegiate inspired design with a twist…

Starting off our 2010 calendar with a bang, we held an event at Electrik Sheep on Friday night, launching an exclusive clothing range from French brand SIXPACK collaborating with shoe giants DC. We also took the opportunity to preview the artists we’ve got lined up for the gallery in 2010. Great night had by all, and as always we didn’t hold back at the afterparty, with help from our friends onE20.
Photography by Richard Kenworthy, lots more photos at the Electrik Sheep Flickr.



