PangPang Brewery
Location - Hökarängen, Sweden
Year - 2018-19
Design Credits - Jens Nilsson
Photo Credits - Jens Nilsson/PangPang Brewery
Explore - PangPang Brewery
Stockholm’s first microbrewery, shooting straight from the hip
Established back in 2010 by Fredrik Tunedal in the southern town of Hökarängen, PangPang (translation BangBang, should you wonder) was the first microbrewery to be established in Stockholm. Back at the time, to show his commitment to the project, Fredrik decided to tattoo the company name on his fists: "I knew it would be tough, and that I would want to give up at times. Tattooing PangPang on my knuckles was a way to make sure I wouldn't quit." Today PangPang is one of the most influential breweries in the nordic region, known for its unique, hand made beers and unconventional brewing methods.
The beer range from PangPang is mighty impressive and they really like to mix it up with some varied designs, but my eye was drawn to the ones which feature great illustrations of a two-finger gun motif and stylised hand in various guises on some of the breweries releases. There’s not detail much floating around on the web, but as much as I can gather these particular labels (and a good few others) were designed by Stockholm-based art director Jens Nilsson, and despite them being released a while back now they still look fresh, appealing, and very playful.
There’s a great use of the can body material in some instances, which when done well can be to great effect - best for me is ‘Improvise’ (shown top right here) with the hand design stretching all the way around the can in pastel colours which contrast brilliantly against the aluminium can and make for a really stand out label. I also really like the designs which extend the illustrative look with coffee cups and cake slices, giving you a hint as to what tastes might lie within…
Thanks to Jens Nilsson and PangPang Brewery for the image reproduction.
