Garage Project is the Wellington craft brewery of prolific experimental beer — and bold illustrated cans.

Garage Project closes the round as the modern experimenter — the Wellington brewery that started in a former petrol-station garage brewing fifty litres at a time, and became famous for a prolific, experimental range wrapped in bold illustrated cans. Garage Project makes experimental craft beer, and its answer to a round about beer around the world is New World invention: hundreds of different beers, design-forward artwork, from a garage in New Zealand. A beer, endlessly experimental.

Its identity is the Wellington garage experiment. Garage Project’s experimental range, its illustrated cans and its garage origin are the story here. A beer, experimental. The Wellington garage experiment.

(Honest notes, so the story stays precise. Garage Project, at garageproject.co.nz, was founded in 2011 in Wellington, New Zealand, starting in a dilapidated former petrol-station garage in Aro Valley, brewing fifty litres at a time, by Jos Ruffell and the brothers Pete and Ian Gillespie; Pete is the head brewer. It is known for a prolific, deliberately experimental range, hundreds of different beers from nano-batches to full runs, plus natural wine and a mixed-fermentation Wild Workshop. Its identity is strongly design-forward, built on bold, illustrated can and label artwork, though we do not name a specific illustrator, since that was not confirmed. On where it is made — a theme of this round — it brews in New Zealand, in Wellington, at its Wilson Street site in Aro Valley, with a taproom in Auckland’s Kingsland; we place brewing in Wellington and note Kingsland is an Auckland taproom, not a brewery. On ownership, it is independent and founder-led, which we frame as such without asserting it takes no outside capital, since recent detail is unverified. One care note: some beers use te reo Māori names, so any homage stays respectful and generic, with no Māori motifs. Its artwork is Garage Project IP we describe but do not reproduce. There is no official brand hex; these tones are an unofficial interpretation. This is design commentary, not a promotion — please enjoy responsibly.)

Garage Project lives in an experiment violet. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

Garage Project’s identity is experimental, illustrated and independent — an experiment violet, an ink, a lilac, a deep violet, and a paper. The palette leans experiment violet and lilac: a bold, playful register that nods to a prolific experimental brewery and illustrated cans rather than a conventional palette. It signals an inventive, design-forward maker. The honest caveat: with no published brand hex, these values are an original, unofficial interpretation, not first-party colours — and no borrow of the artwork is intended.

The lesson is an experiment violet signals an experimental, illustrated identity. Garage Project’s world is an experimental, brewed object. For designers, it is a reminder that a bold violet and a soft lilac can carry a beer brand — the tone of endless invention. Because these tones can fail as small text, keep type dark and let the colour live in the accents, palette and band. The takeaways: experiment relentlessly; make the can a canvas; stay independent; and treat any single hex as unofficial.

The register is an experimental sans — inventive, illustrated, plain.

Garage Project’s identity carries an inventive, illustrated, plain spirit — an experimental brewery, not a conventional one. An experimental sans captures the mood: bold, playful and prolific, the register of a brewery that makes hundreds of beers. Set in an experiment-violet palette, the experimental sans feels inventive and illustrated — exactly the personality Garage Project carries. It is invention rather than a logo, mirroring bold ink on a can. (Garage Project’s real wordmark and can artwork are things we describe but do not reproduce, and the exact typeface is not ours to use.) Because it is not ours to use, the honest description is “an experimental-sans spirit,” shown here in a stand-in. The type behaves like the beer: inventive, illustrated and plain.

Garage Project stands for the Wellington garage experiment.

Garage Project closes the round as the modern experimenter. An experiment-violet palette, an experimental sans and an illustrated can make one thing — the Wellington garage experiment — the whole identity: experimental, illustrated and independent. The prolific experimental range is the differentiator, and the garage origin is the meaning. The point is a Wellington brewery that started in a petrol-station garage and became famous for hundreds of experimental beers in bold illustrated cans.

Put to work, the identity is New World invention told straight, as design. A maker in this spirit would experiment relentlessly, make the can a canvas, and stay independent. A reader in this spirit would keep the facts right: Garage Project was founded in 2011 in Wellington by Jos Ruffell and the Gillespie brothers, starting in an Aro Valley garage at fifty litres; it makes a prolific experimental range plus natural wine; its identity is built on bold illustrated cans, with the specific illustrator unnamed here; it brews in Wellington, with an Auckland taproom in Kingsland; and it is independent and founder-led. Garage Project closes the round as its one modern craft brewery, against the heritage houses, and pairs with Coopers as the southern-hemisphere brewers, ending on the independent end of the who-owns-heritage spectrum. The honest editorial moves are to date the founding to 2011, to credit the founders, to place brewing in Wellington and Kingsland in Auckland, to not name an illustrator, and to keep te reo usage respectful. The lesson Garage Project teaches is that relentless experiment and illustrated cans can be a whole identity, and honesty about the unverified details keeps the invention credible.

For designers and brand-builders, Garage Project closes around the world: experiment relentlessly — and make the can a canvas. The lessons: brew a prolific, varied range; treat the can as design space; stay independent and founder-led; be honest about unverified details; keep cultural names respectful; and never reproduce artwork or a logo. It is also a reminder to stay precise: Garage Project is the Wellington craft brewery of prolific experimental beer and bold illustrated cans — with the palette here an unofficial interpretation, and the piece a design commentary, not a promotion. Read that way, Garage Project is less a beer than an experiment: a garage brewery whose cans are a canvas, closing the round on New World invention after six heritage houses. The lesson for a brand is that experiment and design reinforce each other, and honesty about the unverified details keeps the invention earned. Garage Project made the-Wellington-garage-experiment the identity — proof that a garage experiment can define a brewery.

Keep Garage Project’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.