MOOTEE Bar
A celebrated, experimental cocktail bar known for its unique drinks inspired by African culture, traditional medicine (“muti”), and local ingredients, offering a sensory and narrative experience through innovative mixology and art. It gained international recognition through multiple global pop-ups and nominations for prestigious global bar awards.
My role was Art Director, executing on design strategy, with deliverables spanning multitudes of conceptual art, menus, product visuals, marketing and advertising collateral.
Challenge
A new international bar concept in its infancy, with limited existing assets and no established visual system. I needed to define the art direction and create design materials that could authentically reflect the layered energy of the bar itself – humorous and spiritual, modern and traditional, artful and informal – often all at once.
The Mix
The strategy was to avoid any rigid brand system that would stifle expression. I originally drew inspiration from the real local world, building a flexible framework based on how objects are reused, labeled, and recontextualized, especially in the context of traditional medicine. Familiar forms and informal graphics like collages became visual anchors, grounding the brand culturally while keeping it both adaptable, yet consistent in approach across touchpoints.
This approach led design consistency to be defined more as an attitude and approach rather than a structure, allowing brand recognition through emotion and familiarity.
The Blend
The overall art direction allowed the design elements to blend with the physical experience. Elements like cocktails, menus and ingredients were abstracted into textures and repeatable visual motifs, allowing the actual customer experience to inform the design language.
Tactile decisions played a key role. Sand-like cocktails inspired artworks that were printed on rough paper stocks to extend the experience beyond the page, while more complex drinks and events were paired with art styles designed to provoke curiosity.
These moments were meant to feel familiar, while inviting the question, “What am I experiencing?”
The result was a cohesive, reproducible visual system that translated taste, texture, and atmosphere into a consistent, immersive brand expression across all touchpoints.
The work continued to lean into cultural connections, with parody reimagining local brands, products, and traditions through an unapologetic, raw visual language.
This overall creative direction fueled creativity in the experience as well. For example: International pop-up bar events became known as “Shebeen’s” – a local term used to describe a informal tavern.
This familiar, re-imagined and cut-and-paste nature of the brand intentionally contrasted the upmarket nature of high-end cocktail bars, creating a distinctive and unexpected brand experience.
The Pour
Mootee Bar not only had the design collateral it needed to fully function, but a brand structure designed for creative flexibility. The result was a body of work that feels alive, unique, and unmistakably connected to the core experience.
All this earned the business a spot in the Top 10 Best New Cocktail Bars in the World at the Spirited Awards in 2018. That further led to global collaborations, including international collaborations with brands such as Virgin Atlantic, taking the concept worldwide.
