Beer Stained Pulp

posted by Robyn Pitts July 8, 2020

Beer Stained Pulp is an Instagram account that showcases graphic designer, Adam Kimberley’s, collection of nicely designed beer mats from years gone by. Adam, who currently works in publishing for the public sector, has been collecting beer mats since he was young, influenced by his father and grandfather.

“As I got older I started collecting them more and more, and would often wake up in the morning after a night out with lots of beer mats stuck in my back pocket. They became a great source of design inspiration.”

It is the story behind each beer mat that makes them so special; Adam even prefers the ones which are slightly damaged with stains or wear and tear as “in some way you can romanticise of them telling stories of nights down the pub“. The beer mats are a great use of visual communication, as they not only show a relevance to the history of design, print, and advertising, but are also an important symbol of our culture. It is this culture that Adam believes “we are unfortunately seeing less and less of now with marketing changing to more digital outputs…. But hopefully – long live the beer mat“.

Adam’s creation of Beer Stained Pulp is also a great source of inspiration for designers “through the use of typography, graphical elements, illustration and just some of the weird and wonderful marketing campaigns used“. He has been approached by many artists and designers who enjoy the content, and has even received submissions for beer mat art and graphics. Adam hopes to continue to spread the word about the significance of design in the often-overlooked beer mat, and continue to produce to his own artwork.