Saan is a truly authentic Northern Thai restaurant on Ponsonby Road. Head Chef Lek, from the Laana region of Thailand, brings generations of family recipes to the kitchen. Thai cuisine itself expresses fundamental aspects of Thai culture — it's generous, warm, refreshing and relaxed.

We were tasked to create a hero brand image to represent Saan and to reflect the restaurant and their take on Northern Thai cuisine.

Our concept was a 'bountiful table' setting. One that felt lush and vibrant, welcoming and curious, and of course bountiful to communicate the idea of generosity so common in Northern Thai culture. We undertook a huge prop exploration and carefully curated the still life by combining fresh ingredients, lush flora and fauna, curious ephemera and authentic props from within the Saan restaurant.

We created a daytime and a nighttime version of the image to reflect Saan's two menus – lunch and dinner. Nothing in the image needed to be changed or moved, just a simple swap out of the background.