uksignboards.com - Astley shares their work on the Ad Gefrin project

Astley was so excited to support the opening of the Ad Gefrin Distillery & Visitor Experience, located in the heart of Northumberland. The Anglo-Saxon Museum and English whisky distillery celebrates the very best of the region, showcasing the unique heritage, ancient hospitality, arts, and produce of Northumberland. The proposition of manufacturing and installing assets to brand the venue and showcase its rich heritage was a challenge that the team were eager to undertake.

Astley had the pleasure of working with the renowned design agency, Studio MB, to produce a variety of interior, exterior, and wayfinding signage products. A visual pack including technical drawings for each sign and bespoke item was created by the Astley draughtsmen and every effort was made to match the client’s expectations in translating the venue’s heritage into a physical environment.

This project highlighted the benefits of working with Astley as a creative production partner, as they were able to combine new and contemporary skills with traditional sign-making techniques. The main showpiece of the project was the Ad Gefrin roundel, an asset that truly pushed their workshop expertise and was executed with an incredible outcome! Spanning almost 3m, the impressive centrepiece depicts the brand’s logo in a Celtic design that gives a nod to Northumbria’s Golden Age.

Made from aluminium, the roundel boasts an engraved design that was cut out meticulously using CNC technology. It was then finished with a spray of InnoMetal copper – a liquid metal that can be applied to almost any substrate – which provided the roundel with a rich, copper finish.

The external totem signs were made from a combination of timber and stone. The stone, sourced locally, was hand-chiselled with an intricate Celtic design extracted from Ad Gefrin’s logo. Similarly, this Celtic design also embellished the internal wooden signage, including both door and wall-mounted signs. The natural aesthetic of the signage truly embodies the unique heritage of the site and its roots – almost giving the feeling of the site being risen from the ground up.