Central Saint Martins x Two Tribes > CSM Lager

At the heart of any great collaboration lies the fusion of diverse perspectives and the sharing of ideas.

This is exactly what we aimed for when we partnered with the students from Central Saint Martins for a competition to design the label for a special collaboration beer, the CSM Lager - that will be served exclusively at the Platform Bar in their King's Cross campus.

Central Saint Martins is a world-renowned art and design college that has produced some of the most innovative and boundary-pushing creative minds in the industry. Their students have a reputation of bringing fresh and imaginative ideas to the life. We were thrilled to be working with them on this project.

We challenged the students to create a label design that would capture the essence of what life at Central Saint Martins was like. We gave the students free rein to develop a design that would showcase their identities and the culture of CSM, while appealing to Platform Bar's trendy and creative student clientele.

55 students took part in the competition. Some worked alone, while others worked in small groups.

CSM Associate Lecturer and specialist in strategic branding, Marc Wood, led three sessions guiding students from ideation stage to the point of delivering a commercial brand pitch.

Ilenia Bombardi and Ollie Gregory from the CSM Hospitality team, along with Two Tribes Art Director Leo Elstob and Two Tribes Brand Manager Dylan Hayes were also on hand each session to provide insight from industry experience, feedback and criticism.

In the final week, students presented their finished designs in front of an audience of their peers and a panel made up of CSM Academics, staff from the CSM Platform Bar and Two Tribes Brewery. After a lengthy discussion and a voting process, we were ready to announce two runners up and one overall winner.

Runner Up: Antonia Lucas and Kaija Lamberton - 'Can Do'

Antonia and Kaija delivered an interactive beer label design, which they named 'Can Do'. They wanted to create a product that could help act as an icebreaker to students who may be struggling to meet new people while drinking at the Platform Bar.

They submitted a mix of three designs; two included word games and one provided a blank canvas which invited the beer drinker a chance to create a Central Saint Martin's student. They intentionally used a simple sans serif font, and wanted the design to invite the possibilities of creativity.

Runner Up: Alex Wei and Adrian Oxnam - 'Hold My Beer'

Adrian and Alex named their design 'Hold My Beer', after a meme series which sees peoples say that phrase before attempting something spontaneous and exciting.

They employed a collage design to help tell a visual story of what it is like to be a student at Central Saint Martins in 2023. The images featured elements from day to day student life, as well as cultural reference which helped communicate the diversity of the individuals that make up the university.

Winner: Beth Turner - 'Something's Brewing'

The overall winner was Beth Turner, with a can design which illustrated the daily life on the Central Saint Martins campus - across the six levels of the Granary Square building in King's Cross.

Beth's design illustrated the creative culture at the university, and the connections between the different disciplines studied throughout the building. The name 'Something's Brewing' spoke to the energy among the students, as they work together to refine their talents and develop their ideas.

Beth's design of CSM Lager is available to be purchased now from the Central Saint Martins Platform Bar, in the Granary Building via the entrance just off Handyside Street (across from Gail's and Everyman Cinema).

The Platform Bar is open to CSM staff, students and the general public.