It started with a storm. A couple of months back, a heavy storm brought down the illuminated signage above the canopy at The Coffee Club on Te Ngae Road. Owner Nikhil Dutt got in touch, and our first job was simple and urgent – get to site and make it safe.

That make-safe visit turned into something much bigger. Nikhil needed a replacement sign, but he also shared that The Coffee Club New Zealand was preparing to roll out a refreshed brand nationwide. Through that conversation we were introduced to the team at The Coffee Club NZ [including co-director Brad Jacobs], and after a visit to Auckland to talk through the new look and what the brand wanted to achieve across the country, we quoted a full signage package. The opportunity was a big one: Nikhil’s store would be the very first in New Zealand to go live with the new branding.

A first-of-brand installation raises the bar. It had to:

• Reproduce the new brand graphics exactly — including a shadow-line detail designed to give real depth
• Work as a bright, evenly lit illuminated sign, day and night
• Set the standard for every Coffee Club store that follows
• Be installed safely on a live, trading hospitality site

The challenge was all in the detail. The refreshed brand graphic uses a shadow line to create a 3D effect – straightforward to print flat, but difficult to reproduce inside an illuminated lightbox, where the artwork usually sits on a single flat plane of light. Achieving that depth meant building the graphic up in layers.

This is where our bespoke fabrication came in. Using our high-end German ZUND CNC machinery, we machined the opal acrylic – a translucent material that diffuses light evenly – for the new lightbox, milling it with a second-level step to create physical depth. We then inserted CNC-cut ACM (aluminium composite) shadows into those 3D elements, building multiple layers of media so the illuminated graphic carries the true shadow line the designers intended, lit from within.

The result is a lightbox with genuine dimension rather than a flat glowing panel – exactly the effect the new brand was built around, and a finish that’s only possible with the right equipment and the know-how to use it. Alongside the main illuminated sign, we produced and installed the other brand touch points across the site (wayfinding, letter cut outs, fascia signs) for a consistent, finished look throughout.

From an emergency make-safe after a storm to delivering the very first store in a national rebrand – this is a project we’re genuinely proud of. The Coffee Club on Te Ngae Road now carries a crisp, dimensional illuminated sign that sets the template for the brand’s rollout across New Zealand.

It’s exactly why brands choose an experienced local team with real fabrication capability in-house over the cheapest option – and we’re looking forward to working with The Coffee Club NZ on more sites as the refreshed brand rolls out around the country.

Here are some useful links

• Why choose StarSign for building & shopfront signs?
• How to design a sign that stands out?
• Our signage services
• Download the “StarSign – Signage and Display Playbook”