Atomicdust Designs Italian-Inspired Shirts for Pastaria
In 2012, we helped renowned St. Louis chef Gerard Craft bring his first Italian restaurant, Pastaria, to life by developing its branding, visual identity and website. He recently approached us with another project – to design Pastaria-inspired t-shirts to sell in the retail area of the restaurant.
Gerard wanted something special, something more than the typical novelty or logo t-shirt you’d expect to find at most restaurants. Lucky for us, Pastaria’s brand has so many fun elements to work with – the family illustrations, vintage photos, the typography and more.
For one of the t-shirt styles, we used the delivery truck image from the award-winning pizza boxes. We were big fans of that element in the original branding, and excited to get to feature it again. We paired it with the phrase “La Verita,” which means “the truth” in Italian. Gerard was inspired by the phrase when he visited Italy prior to opening Pastaria, and it’s now displayed above the pizza oven at the restaurant as a daily reminder.
The second shirt design plays off a familiar catchphrase at Pastaria – “Sorta close to Italy.” This sentiment is already featured on server shirts, menus, pizza boxes and the website, and now customers can wear it home with the “STL Italy” t-shirts.
Stop by Pastaria in Clayton to see the shirts in person, and enjoy some great Italian fare and gelato, of course.
