Turning the table on Pete Nguyen

Applied Arts is turns the table on 2025 Design Awards juror Pete Nguyen. The co-founder of Sea Change Brewing Co. and Shiddy's Distilling, brings his bold and irreverent style to every venture he touches. His award-winning work spans murals, storytelling, branding, and product design — all rooted in creativity that’s both authentic and unpretentious. Beyond his businesses, Pete is deeply involved in community-based collaborations that foster connection and creativity in his hometown of Edmonton, Alberta.

As part of our juror spotlight series, Pete reveals one of his favourite projects — a spirited blend of humour, design, and storytelling that perfectly captures his fearless approach to creativity.

Welcome to the Rumpus Room

Shiddy’s Distilling is a small-batch spirits company producing bottled spirits, ready-to-drink canned/bottled cocktails, and boozy sodas — founded by the team behind Sea Change Brewing Co. Its flagship venue, The Rumpus Room, is a fully immersive taproom designed to feel like stepping into a collective memory — a place that’s nostalgic, light-hearted, and strangely familiar, even if you’ve never been there before. The entire experience is driven by design, which
was created by a team working under Pete to build the designs and the build of the Rumpus Room—the brand and the room shape the story long before you even sit down to take a sip.

This was one of my favourite projects because it allowed us to play in a completely open world. Having almost no creative boundaries was liberating but also deeply challenging.

To make it work, we had to design the branding, the room, and the overall experience to function on multiple levels — welcoming guests who simply want a fun, familiar space with great drinks, while also rewarding the curious with deeper layers of discovery.

Building the Shiddy’s Universe

Look a little closer, find the distillery itself—and beyond that, an ambiguously fantastical history of the Shiddy’s Family woven through every corner of the room. Building that illusion took real effort. We hunted for authentic materials — including long-extinct laminate wood panelling, a detail so era-specific we drove through three different states to track down remnants of new-old stock. We thrifted, scanned, altered, and rebuilt vintage items to construct a believable fake history. We created dozens of sub-brands and imaginary products to populate the world, even launching our own T-shirt line of blanks called MighTees. And for anyone bold enough to dial deeper, we set up a 1-833 number that connects callers to an ever-changing, surreal voicemail experience inside the Shiddy’s universe.

Since opening the doors of The Rumpus Room in July 2024, we’ve kept the space consistently full, seven days a week. Our merchandise changes constantly and sells out just as fast. Retail sales of our spirits and canned cocktails have grown steadily, both within the taproom and across Alberta.

The success of the project lies in that delicate balance between humour and sincerity. Shiddy’s is funny — self-deprecating, overdone, and occasionally toeing the edge of ‘cringe’ — but beneath the joke is genuine craft and care. You can feel it in the products, the décor, and the attention to detail. That mix of play and precision makes the brand believable, maybe even forgivable.

A Toast to Creative Mischief

In true Pete Nguyen fashion, Shiddy’s Distilling proves that great design doesn’t have to take itself seriously to be seriously good. It’s bold, bizarre, and built on heart — a perfect reflection of the creative energy making Edmonton that much cooler.

W. getshiddy.com | IG. @Shiddy's, @pete.nguyen

Cheers to Pete for keeping Edmonton spirited — in every sense of the word.