Chapel Jacks
Experimental ale brand inspired by East End gilt mirrors and Victorian nightlife.
This work was conceptual, an exploration into an idea based around a change in east London inns and the craft of the gilt mirror.
Create a playful, premium range that feels like a Victorian pub artefact, without turning into costume
Chapels wanted an experimental concept rooted in the East End’s gilt pub mirrors, objects loaded with craft, theatre, and gossip. The challenge was to build a world that nods to 1880s drinking culture while staying contemporary and collectible. Naming needed to carry humour and history. Packaging had to mimic the depth and glow of a mirror, and promotion had to feel period-authentic, not pastiche.
We treated the mirror as a time machine, then built a brand system around its secrets, shine, and storytelling
Story first.
We anchored the concept in the idea that mirrors have witnessed everything. Not a literal character drama, more a chorus of whispers. This gave us a narrative spine for copy, naming, and promotion, and a clear mood: decadent, curious, slightly dark, and always inviting.
Naming with a wink
Chapel became the connective tissue, a nod to Whitechapel and the pub geography that inspired the project. Individual variants used time and strength as playful cues, with titles like Set 3, 5 to Midnight, and It’s Getting 8. Historic, but never reverent.
Packaging as illusion
We designed labels to behave like gilt mirrors, with high-gloss depth, tonal shading, and a foil layer that catches light like ornament. Bright gradients brought modern energy. Greyscale tints created dimensionality. The result feels like an object you might find behind a bar, polished nightly.
The identity pairs ornate, Victorian-influenced typography with a clean, contemporary supporting typeface to keep it sharp. Colour is bright and rich, built in gradients with greyscale shadowing to suggest depth. Foil finishes deliver the gilt effect. Photography direction is moody pub interior light, reflective highlights, tight crops on detail, and bottle-as-object still life. Layout uses a simple grid so decoration stays intentional. Tone of voice is knowing, poetic, and slightly mischievous. Key line: Secrets of the mirror.
From bottle to back bar, a brand designed to belong in the glow of tiles, brass, and glass
The system was built for maximum impact at arm’s length and in-hand. On pack, the mirror illusion becomes the hero, with variant names and strength cues working as quick reads. For promotion, we developed the idea of gifting gilt mirrors to partner pubs and bars, paired with printed advertising styled after 1880s pub notices. The result is a brand that lives across packaging, point-of-sale, and interiors, and feels native to the spaces that inspired it.
A contemporary cult concept with Victorian polish, designed to stop people mid-conversation at the bar
Chapels gained a clear narrative platform that can stretch across new variants, seasonal drops, and collaborations. The mirror concept gives the brand a distinctive asset, part object, part story engine. Naming strikes the balance between heritage cues and modern humour, making the range feel premium without feeling precious.
Delivered end-to-end strategy, naming, brand identity, packaging, and promotional concept in 4 weeks. The packaging system supports multiple strengths and flavours, and is built to extend across future SKUs. The concept also creates a tangible activation route through mirror giveaways and period-style print, designed for high visibility in pubs and bars.
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