Studio Tillack Knöll, Design Practice

Dolce far niente—The sweetness of doing nothing quickly emerged to the bars credo thus providing excellent quality in service and menu. »Gian Paolo e Marco«, a bar that was »set in stone«, opened in September 2021 and set a new standard for modern bar interior in Stuttgart. Internationally renowned in various Arcitecture magazines we contributed to the identity of the newly established bar.

The logo, a reminiscence of old Italian craftsmanship, resembles the brands story with influences of long summers and mid-century mediterranean heritage — a the virtuoso use of specially drawn ligatures to reinforce the reference to ancient Italian craftsmanship.

After creating the wordmark for the brand, we foremost designed a brandbook that shares the story of Gian Paolo and Marco, two bartenders that fled the declining Italian economy of the mid-20th century. They set up shop in Stuttgart only to reunite with her beloved employee, Tatti, who also opened a café right around the corner. A booklet, printed in two colors, was not only handed out in the opening weeks of the bar, it was as well used as promotion material among guests of the adjacent hotel Emilu. 

Subsequently, the design of Gian Paolo e Marco was applied to various printed matter. 

The center-piece of every bar is its menu book, especially with the attention to detail that was provided at »GPeM«. We tried to continue this in the way we designed the menu book.

In a sub-branding, we also designed stickers to put on coffee bags for Gian Paolo e Marcos very own  roast — MOZZAFIATO. We used our very own variable typeface »Pepi« for that.