Reunion by NeueHouse
In 2023 NeueHouse opened a location in Venice Beach, California as well as revamped their Hollywood location. Within each lives Reunion, a coastal Italian restaurant and bar with a laid back yet upscale dining environment.
With the first location opening in Venice Beach, our approach to this brand experience was refined while laid back. We wanted to bring the Mediterranean coast to Venice Beach and eventually Hollywood. While sustainability is always at the forefront of collateral I produce, our material explorations for this project really emphasized this sensibility. The location is immediately adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, highlighting the importance for thoughtful production and reducing our footprint.
As with other venues we opened at CultureWorks, the menu was the starting point for realizing our vision for the guest experience. Because of the Venice Beach location being so close to the beach and with the tech-focused locals, I sourced a fabric for the menu covers from a small distributor in Colorado. Every element and layer of the fabric is made from recycled materials, mostly ocean waste, as well as able to be further recycled.
The team had been working with a creative agency which had laid a lot of the visual groundwork for the brand. But upon my hire, I took a lot of that work in house and reshaped it to fit my collaborators and my own visions for the brand and experience.
A pen, a card, and a message - seemingly simple pieces, but have proven incredibly important in operating the space. I developed a messaging system for the restaurant to communicate with guests on current goings on as well as upcoming events. While using a different printer than our menu producer, brand standards are kept consistent through a hand selected paper quality. Golden bullet pens are distributed to guests for a bill signature, finely and subtly engraved with the Verōnika wordmark.
One of the first hurdles to overcome with the menu design was a problem no one seemed to be able to solve, but ended up being quite simple. The way the menu construction was done didn’t showcase the work of Ellen von Unwerth in the way we wanted - when closed, the male subject was the first thing you saw when it was placed in front of you. I spoke with Ellen’s team about mirroring the photo and she graciously agreed. Problem solved.
Another fun touchpoint of the experience were these small lipstick lighters that were sourced from Japan. I engaged a local laser engraver to etch the Verōnika logo into the side. Restaurant guests would receive these at the maître d’s discretion.
To sell museum memberships in a sexy way that was inline with the luxe experience of the restaurant, I concepted, designed, and produced a two part piece of collateral that could be passed out to VIP guests. Inside of a sleek black envelope would be a thick card with the Ellen photo we used on the menu. Embedded in the card was a steel chip, powder coated black, and engraved with the museum logo on one side and QR code on the reverse.
The QR code could be scanned by the receiving guest - prompting their phone to open a pre-composed email to our guest services team. This email would fast track them to become a member, allowing them to join on the spot and begin receiving benefits immediately.
In addition to the social media work for Verōnika - I also developed other digital solutions such as the reservation making experience. Rather than work through a third party, we commissioned a custom widget built from the ground up and tailored to the brand experience.
