The first time Nick Davidson, owner of Tin Man Brewing Company brought usto their newly acquired building, it was a boarded up, condemned shell of a structure. From these early stages we had to envision a place where people would come, not only to brew beer in a world class, state of the art microbrewery, but also come and enjoy this great beer with equally great food in a fully Tin Man branded experience. Over the course of about a year, the building was transformed into what you see here.
The theme of Tin Man Brewing Company is inspired by Nick's childhood fascination with robots and now his obsession with making great craft beer. The goal of the interior design was to create a space that was more sophisticated than just putting images of robots on the walls. We opted instead to create the feel of a historic workshop of a tinkering robot builder. Preserving a lot of the historic deatils of the building and accentuating them with custom made furniture pieces and design elements made to look like they were built over time out of spare parts and raw materials that were laying around. Warm light, worn metal and reclaimed hardwood surround you in the space, creating a perfect backdrop to the brightly colored beer branding adorning the custom made beer signs and tap handles.
We designed the custom made tables out of real galvanized pipe and topped them with reclaimed wood from the building, they are paired with chairs from Restoration Hardware. The galvanized steel topped counnter height communal table is also constructed from reclaimed wood and is surrounded by stools custom finished for us by the fine folks at Pollard Brothers in Chicago, Illinois. The floors are made neear here in Jasper, Indiana from locally harvested hickory. The bar top was set in solid concrete, mixed to our specifications and hand distressed and waxed for a matte sheen that will continue to age with use. The bar front is clad in sheets of scrap metal, riveted in a custom designed pattern for a randomly placed look. The back bar is made from re-configured reproduction antique bookcases from Restoration Hardware. Industrial sconces and exposed housing can lights sourced through Rochelle Fichter at Illuminating Expressions accentuate all of the details and highlight a 6'5" custom made robot made by our friend and Evansville Artist Corey Kreitenstein.
Credit: Aaron Tanner Co-Design
Photography by Jerry Butts & Jordan Barclay