Na Zdrowie! 

For our 21 from 21 series, we’re toasting the branding and wayfinding strategy developed for Koneser, the long-forgotten vodka rectification factory in Warsaw’s Praga district in 2016.

Now home of Google’s Eastern European Campus and the historic Polish Vodka Museum alongside event space, hotels, cafes, restaurants, a food market, residential, office and retail facilities, Koneser was fast becoming the capital city’s No.1 lifestyle destination after a €460million revitalisation by BBI and Liebrecht & Wood.

To dive into the industrial history of the area, the Koneser vodka factory previously employed more than 400 people with their production capacity being a staggering quarter of a million bottles of vodka per day. However, the decline of the factory in the latter part of the century saw it eventually shut down. The Praga district in which it was based, also suffered by earning a reputation of being unsafe. However, as is the way with such areas, it became a cool, fashionable and lively place which as a result led to inward investment and regeneration, bringing back to life and preserving these historic buildings.

Air’s role was to develop the visual identity and brand expression for the mixed-use, lifestyle destination which blends post-industrial spaces within a contemporary urban fabric. We creatively rebranded with an image and essence that matched the various unique and quirky offerings in the area. Working with our positioning essence ‘Warsaw Original,’ we developed a vibrant and colorful new brand language capped with a logotype created by project partners and the famous Polish artist Klaudia Kudelska. The brand guidelines we developed allowed for wide ranging creative freedom to represent the ever-changing, artistic, and dynamic nature of the area.

Thanks to new investments and intense regeneration, Praga is on the rise. The area’s rich culinary, artistic and cultural offerings attract Warsaw’s young, creative and hip, elevating the area to Warsaw’s trendiest go-to district, much like New York’s Lower East Side and London’s Shoreditch.