Fort Defiance

I work in Red Hook, Brooklyn. (though not for long! DUMBO here we come!) It's on the water & once upon a time Red Hook was a port run by the shipping industry. Those days are long gone and gave way to decay, feral dogs and a Meth clinic. Those days too are in the past. Red Hook is thriving and growing with hot spots like Saipua, Baked, The Good Fork and the largest IKEA in the world (not that that's a good thing, but it's here). The newest edition to Van Brunt Street is Fort Defiance, set to open this Saturday. St. John (owner, mixologist) asked me to do a large chalkboard sign in the cafe/bar. He wanted it to follow the identity that by boss, Steve, did for all of the print pieces for the cafe/bar.

It was really a great hands-on project for a few reasons: 

1. You can't get too perfect with a chalkboard (though I used pastels to grant myself some control). 

2. With the opening being so soon I couldn't play around too much with different methods etc. it was a "get in, get it finished!" project. I loved that because I know I have a tendency to want to explore all of my options for weeks before I settle on how/what I'm going to do for a project.

3. The imperfect typesetting was exactly the look we were going for, like an old historical document where the kerning and printing is just a little off.

*Thanks Steve for recommending me for the job & St. John for giving me the opportunity!