WPP global brand design agency Design Bridge and Partners today launched a monumental new way of serving pints for premium British brand Hawkstone. Each beer fount is hand-carved, uniquely crafted from a huge piece of real Cotswold limestone.The pieces bring to life the brand’s commitment to British Farming, with a striking physical presence behind the bar for the UK’s fastest growing* beer – immortalising the hard graft that goes into making it and translating it into bold, materially authentic design.
Hawkstone, co-founded by TV presenter-turned farmer Jeremy Clarkson, is a liquid tribute to the British countryside. A tribute to farmers, to their graft, resilience and the elemental unpredictability of British farming. This is expressed through its brand statement: “Hard to make, easy to drink”, a celebration of the effort invested into producing each pint.
The team at Design Bridge and Partners wanted to create a physical experience that embodied this ‘hard to make’ ethos and stay true to the essence of the brand and its origin story.
Inspired by the Hawk Stone, the iconic 4,000-year-old neolithic standing stone that crowns a Cotswold hill and gives the brand its name, the idea was to hero a real piece of handcrafted limestone found in the same Cotswold fields in which the beer’s barley was originally grown.
‘Born of Stone’, the creative concept that underpins the design, forges a tangible connection with each fount to its place of origin. And with that, the idea of ‘dropping a lump of Cotswold stone on a bar’ was born. Obviously, a lot more effort goes into crafting each monolith than simply grabbing a stone out of a local field, and Design Bridge and Partners deliberately avoided the use of imitation or ‘fake’ stone, instead partnering with local quarry and stonemasons Cotswold Natural Stone, to hero the real material in its truest form.
Each surface reveals natural grain, fossil textures and thousands of years of geological history. One by one the team are creating an initial release of a thousand founts which will be rolled out across the UK over the next few months. And by the very nature of the design process, no two are the same, with each piece numbered and hallmarked, celebrating both maker and material while reinforcing Hawkstone’s commitment to provenance and craft.
Behind the raw exterior sits a precisely engineered modular metal system – encapsulating the resourcefulness of farming – developed with dispense specialists Taphandles.
The founts were designed modularly, creating flexibility for different bar environments, whilst ensuring that across all locations, the stone embraces the same iconic vision.
Brushed brass pipework runs directly through the limestone, creating a striking contrast between geological mass and refined brewing hardware.
In a category dominated by polished chrome and illuminated acrylic, the Hawkstone Fount stands alone, like its namesake, transforming an uncompromising natural material into a premium brand asset. At the bar, the stone fount delivers high‑impact brand visibility and talkability at the point of pour – a striking, materially truthful beacon that helps Hawkstone cut through in busy pubs, so the story is seen, remembered and ordered again.
Jeremy Clarkson, co-founder, Hawkstone, said: ”It’s bloody hard to make Hawkstone. A lot of time goes into every single drop, so it makes sense that a lot of time has also gone into the thing the beer comes out of. In this case, about 140 million years because it’s made of real, actual Cotswold stone. Find me another proudly British beer that puts a 140-million-year-old bit of hardware on your bar and I’ll buy you a pint of Hawkstone.”
“Hawkstone was born in the Cotswolds, and we’ve always said it’s hard to make and easy to drink,” said Jonas Munk, Chief Commercial Officer, Hawkstone. “We were thrilled to collaborate with Design Bridge and Partners who have created a stone fount that brings that belief to life in the most literal way possible. It’s a piece of the same landscape our barley grows in, carved into something that pours every pint. A constant reminder that behind every easy-drinking beer there’s a lot of graft – and now you can see that sitting right there proudly on the bar.”
“We knew we needed to create something worthy of the huge amount of effort that goes into making the beer that takes ‘longer to lager’ and really bring the brand to life,” said Luke Burley, creative director physical experience, Design Bridge and Partners. “The Born of Stone idea distils what the brand stands for. Stubborn. Hard to make. British to its core, bringing all these qualities to life in a single, powerful, gesture. By working with authentic Cotswold limestone, we transformed provenance, into real presence.”
“There’s an integrity that comes from using the material in its truest state,” said Ben Davey, Technical Director, Design Bridge and Partners. “It was incredibly challenging working with such vastly different organic material, and even more so to find a pioneering artisan supplier who was willing to take on the challenge with us. Cotswold Natural Stone were not only the perfect choice to help bring this to life for our amazing client, as the complexities of crafting each individual piece arose, we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect partner. It also didn’t hurt that they’re based just a few miles down the road from the actual stone. We’re all so excited to see how it’s embraced in pubs up and down the UK.”
Installation of the founts begins in March 2026 at Jeremy Clarkson’s pub, The Farmer’s Dog, and other key UK locations, followed by national rollout.
