The Duke of York pub in Belfast is world famous for it’s rainbow umbrellas that hang gracefully above the street. They say there’s a pot of gold at the rainbows end…this was kind of the brief given by pub owner, Willie Jack.

The existing bench had been painted gold and had vinyl lettering on it – it required a glow-up (quite literally).

First it was stripped right back, sanding through years of paint. After cleaning the metal on the legs and priming the wood, 23.5ct gold was applied across all visible surfaces. Some special care and attention was given to the legs, where the manufacturers name was also highlighted in the shiny stuff.

The original text on the bench (written by Sort), was slightly modified to make for better line lengths and then all text was drawn out for painting. All 211 characters.

A traditional thick-and-thin style was used here, due to character. Subtle and not too overpowering given the word count.

The end result is a bench that makes a lot of people stop in their tracks, have a read and sometimes take a seat.