Art of Danny Schramm

Selected Paint jobs and Design Projects from Danny Schramm creator of Palma Aurea.
Astra “Pimp the Box” – Container Design on St. Pauli
Concept sketch: white container with disco-ball motif
Concept sketch: blue container - water, sea, harbour
Concept sketch: red container with red-light silhouettes
Concept sketch: green container - turf, football, Kiezkicker
Cartridges of construction adhesive before gluing the crown caps
Fully glued - about 1,000 crown caps per square metre
Candy-coat test: the translucent glaze over the crown caps
Finished: the white container on the Spielbudenplatz
Finished: the blue container
Finished: the red container
Finished: the green container
Candy coat with metallic flakes glittering in the sun

2009. Four food and drink containers on the Spielbudenplatz in the middle of Hamburg’s St. Pauli. The site’s operating company and the Hamburg beer brand Astra ran a design contest: Pimp the Box. Each container was to get its own theme – and its outer surface was to be built from the brand’s signature material: the Astra crown cap.

Four containers, four stories

Astra’s three beer varieties brought three crown-cap colours to the table: the golden original, the red "Rotlicht", and the blue-and-white from Astra Alsterwasser. From those three building blocks, four mosaics emerged, each with its own theme.

  • The white container: the disco ball. A party symbol, dazzling and sparkling – laid mainly from the original and “Rotlicht” caps.
  • The blue container: harbour, Alster, sky. Here the blue-and-white Alsterwasser caps set the tone.
  • The red container: red light and Reeperbahn. Female silhouettes as a nod to the neighbourhood where the containers stood.
  • The green container: what makes Hamburg green – turf, neighbourhood football pitches, Kiezkicker, FC St. Pauli.

From layout to lacquered container

The way from drawing to finished container was hands-on work:

  1. The container edges are painted black; the outer surfaces are sanded down.
  2. The motif is projected onto the container with a beamer and traced by hand.
  3. Each square metre takes around 1,000 crown caps. Construction adhesive from cartridges holds them in place – a team of about 30 helpers glues tens of thousands of caps.
  4. Once the glue has cured, the candy coat goes on: a deep, translucent colour sprayed across the whole surface. The metallic look of the caps shines through it like a layer of cut gemstones.
  5. Finally, each container receives the Astra logo.

Schramm’s contribution

Danny Schramm, as lacquerer, was responsible for the layouts, the paint build-up and the candy finish on all four containers. The crown-cap mosaics are an early example of the design language that today carries the name Danny Schramm Artistry: take materials outside their original purpose, layer up surfaces, finish with high-end lacquer.

Key figures

  • 4 containers
  • 30 m² of outer surface per container
  • approx. 1,000 crown caps per m²
  • 4 adhesive cartridges per m²
  • 30 helpers
  • Location: Spielbudenplatz, Hamburg-St. Pauli
  • Year: 2009
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