Ruby Wong’s Godown

Manila traffic is the design problem. A local coming to Roxas Boulevard might spend an hour getting there, so the bar could not be somewhere you drop into it had to be worth the whole evening. Which is a brief about atmosphere, and atmosphere here is built almost entirely from drawing.

The source is maritime tattoo flash: the designs sailors collected port by port, working as cultural passport stamps and accumulating meanings of adventure, mischief and superstition. Skull and crossbones, an all-seeing eye in a sunburst, a hand with a snake, a rabbit, playing cards gold line engravings, single weight, no shading.

They’re arranged the way a tattooist fills a sleeve: not on a grid, but placed to fit, letting the objects find their own composition. One icon to a coaster, six to a set, so the table gathers a collection over an evening. Crimson, oxblood and teal on uncoated stock, so the foil sits proud.

Client Admiral Hotel Manila MGallery
Location Manila, Philippines
Scope Bar naming · Brand identity · Illustration · Brand experience · Packaging
Sector Hotel bar and nightlife branding