Crude. Blunt. Raw.

Brutø exists at the intersection of culinary, art, service and design. A brash and inventive Michelin Star-winning, 18-seat restaurant concept dedicated to sustainability, the connection with the environment and the origin of the food. The space is presided over by a humble, concrete wood-fired oven – the heart of the space. We sought to honor the space, team and program with a visual system that valued a pure and sharp design system.

Ethic over Aesthetic

The Id Est team was a constant collaborator and helped guide the evolution of the visual brand to something that more reflected their current standpoint on food and service. We started digitally and because brutalism began as an architectural movement, we wanted to take a very considerate approach to what brutalism is in the absence of materiality. The Brutø Restaurant space is uniquely small and encased in glass so there's this amazing sense of transparency and being able to take in everything at once before you really consider the layers of space and activity going on. We mirrored this on the website by utilizing a single page that essentially shows users everything before filtering and focusing in on other elements. It hides nothing, and there’s a brazen honesty in that approach that matches the ethos of the restaurant. We paired this with 3D elements which gives a sense of tactility and a series of typographic takes on their logo inspired by butalist movements from around the world.

Continuing our process of highlighting transparency and materiality we leveraged the innate nature of the space – encompassed in glass –we wanted to continue to capture that light while making the space feel more intimate. We utilized a blend of reeded glass and color-tinting existing panes; creating a dreamy effect as the light dapples through the space while preserving simple, utilitarian materiality. We also developed the updated furniture program including custom steel firewood housing that doubled as a small bookcase utilizing both form and function. For signage, we wanted to eschew traditional techniques  – we adapted a standard construction light that penetrated a transparent acrylic cylinder to create a brutalist reference of the  logo utilizing humble simple materials.