flashback friday

We've just come across this great article about a locked cupboard that was forgotten for 40 years, and when it was finally opened recently it revealed a fantastic look straight into FMCG packaging's illustrious past... an accidental museum of brands!

skylights

We recently put together a microsite for our client Aerobility, to promote a chartered flight that would let passengers see the Northern Lights from the air.

Aerobility gives disabled people the chance to fly, and the Aurora flight (from Gatwick to the Shetland Islands) was a fantastic idea to raise money in a spectacular way. The flight was last weekend, and 74 people - including presenters from the BBC's The Sky At Night - were on board. Here's some press coverage and you can see the atmospheric microsite at aerobility.com/aurora.

flip flop

If - like some of us in the studio - you're less of a hit in the kitchen but still want to get involved in Pancake Day this year, then look out for our newly redesigned Green's Pancake Mixes, in all good convenience stores now!

introducing...

... our new Junior Designer, Lun Yau.

Lun studied Graphic Design at Nottingham Trent University and this is his first job in design - when we saw how talented he is we got in there quickly!

Lun cites Dieter Rams - with his "less is more" ethic - as his biggest inspiration in the design world.

As well as branding, print and packaging, Lun's also into digital design - websites & apps - which will definitely make him an asset in the studio.

The one item of packaging he wishes he'd designed is the Lyle's Golden Syrup tin, along with the special editions by Design Bridge (although as a child of the 1990s he's over 100 years too late for the former!).

And besides design, he cycles, loves films and computer games, travels, explores... and makes delicious coffee (which we can now attest to)!

That's all for now, but no doubt you'll be hearing more from Lun in the future.

thumbs up

We're very pleased to see Peter Andre giving Percol Fusion the thumbs up!

splashing out

We recently designed the promotional graphics for A Bigger Splash - an event held in London by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce UK (SCC).

The event was organised by the Young Professionals at SCC and took the format of a question and answer forum. For me, the common theme was the singular passion and drive each of entrepreneurs possessed, and their ability to spring back from all the knock backs and upsets they experienced. This emphasised the fact that there is no short cut to being successful as an entrepreneur (contrary to the impression given on reality TV).

The keynote speakers came from a wide spectrum of business activity - from selling clothes and homewares to a global market (http://www.lexingtoncompany.com/) through to developing an app for streaming live video from a smart phone (http://bambuser.com/).

french letters

I stumbled across this intriguing video which matches two of my favourite things - music and 1950s 'throwaway' lettering styles [says Peter]. The three piece band come from Marseille and are called Husbands. The promo video is by Cauboyz (pronounced Cowboys), also from France, who say:
"we are French/from Nancy
we are a photographer
and a graphic designer
and we like doing music videos"

I love their work:

Husbands - "Dream" from Cauboyz on Vimeo.

What's even more fascinating is the "how we did this video". How analogue and 'old skool' can you get?

Making Of / Husbands - "Dream" from Cauboyz on Vimeo.

new recruit

Today we've had a new freelancer in on trial - a highly skilled and super stylish Maltipoo called Teddy! No doubt we'll be welcoming him back soon.

Happy Christmas!

4 weeks to go...

... until Christmas!! And we're starting to feel festive - excitedly anticipating the delivery of our tree next Monday. Here are some very apt baubles spotted by Nik:

walk this way

I went to a brilliant exhibition at Somerset House a couple of weeks ago – Tim Walker: Story Teller.
I’d really recommend it to anyone interested in photography, fashion, design, fairytales or anything to do with creativity and imagination...

As well as Walker's photographs and quotes on the walls, the rooms are all filled with props from the photoshoots, creating a strange and beautiful experience that goes beyond what many exhibitions achieve. In one room pieces of a replica spitfire seem to come through the walls, and in another the sand dune from a photograph continues on into the room, merging the two-dimensional with our three-dimensional reality.

If that hasn't quite enticed you, it might help to know that the exhibition’s free (always a bonus), and you could always tie it in with a spin round the ice skating rink in the courtyard!

Jubilations

Our studio, decked out in a suitably festive fashion!

flatpack TV

I've always been a great believer in approaching problems and ideas from unexpected angles. One of the best examples of this I've come across recently is a new Ikea product, set to launch in the UK in early 2013. It's call Uppleva (which I'm reliably informed by my Swedish friends means 'revolution'). And it's not a sofa, or a new bed, or a potato masher, or even a fancy new type of tea light. It's a TV.

Ikea, making TV's? It doesn't make sense. Except it does: because Ikea have cleverly recognised the problem with TVs today. Its not about screen size, HD, 3D, smart or being able to download apps. It's the fact that most TV's today are bloated, oversized, badly designed monsters, which when combined with the plethora of boxes we now attach to them and all the associated cables that involves means our living rooms all have a proverbial (televisual) elephant in the corner.

Being a furniture maker and renowned for design, Ikea have identified this problem and produced a cleverly Swedish solution to it. A TV that doesn't compete on tech smartness and which doesn't compete with the rest of your living room. Instead, we can now consider it part of the furniture. It's very clever, and it will be interesting to see if it takes off. And if it comes in flatpack. Nik

The Marvelous Moustachin

One of our designers, Sach, has manned up and is taking part in Movember. Sponsor him here, and laugh marvel at his moustache here:

issue 8 of the looking glass out now!

issue 7 of the looking glass out now!

dead famous

Big excitement in the studio last Thursday when our senior designer Jessica was plastered across page 3 of the Evening Standard... after spending the night in a haunted coffin to try and win a trip to New York. In a feat of endurance and bravery she lasted the night, won the trip, and made us all proud! Click here to read all about it.

badges of colour

I love finding out about new artists, especially when they are local to me (writes Amy)...

On a chilly Sunday morning a few weeks ago I was having a wander around Muswell Hill with my boyf... I needed a quick retail fix so left Matt outside to entertain himself. When I met back up with him he was taking photos of the floor – I thought he’d gone slightly mad but when I looked down I saw a blanket of colour & pattern. On closer look there were loads of tiny little pictures that had all been created on top of discarded old chewing gum...

It sounds pretty disgusting but these little 'badges' of colour were amazing, packed with loads of detail! Thinking about it, I had often seen a guy lying on the floor with a paint brush in hand (as you do) and wondered what he was up to… well, now I know!

As soon as I'd spotted these pieces of art it was impossible to not keep looking down at the floor - there are hundreds around the streets of Muswell Hill, but apparently they appear all over London so keep your eyes peeled!

The artist is Ben Wilson and you can find out a little more about what he does by visiting this BBC report.

bass notes

Kemistry Gallery in Shoreditch was recently showing an exhibition of Saul Bass movie posters, and a few weeks ago we shut the studio early to go and take a look (writes Jess)...

Story board for the shower scene in Psycho which he is actually rumoured to have directed!

Anatomy of a Murder - my pick of the show.

His film titles are incredibly simple - which is the beauty of all Bass' work and why even now he is revered as one of the all time greats of graphic design. His work is very obviously the inspiration for modern day credits such as "Catch Me If You Can".

The exhibition is now closed, but it's worthwhile having a look on YouTube for more of his film titles, they're exactly like his posters, bought to life through really simple animation... beautiful.

drawing fashion

A couple of weekends ago I went to the Design Museum, London (writes Peter) to see The Brit Insurance Design Awards, billed as "the Oscars of the design world". I wish. Unfortunately, I soon found myself overwhelmed by the mess of projects, exhibits and unclassifiable stuff I couldn't understand or relate to. Nothing like as exciting as the 2009 show.

Luckily on the floor below was an exhibition of fashion drawings which made the trip worth the effort.

The exhibits and exhibition are small but the scope is as vast as it is fascinating, featuring a whistle stop tour through haute couture fashion from the 1920's onwards. And all seen through the eyes of some amazingly talented fashion illustrators.

Some captured a 'look' in a few gestural brush strokes...

Mats Gustafson, “Red Dress”, Yohji Yamamoto 1999

Others with painstaking filigree detail in watercolors...

George Lepape, Vogue cover 1919

While others adapted contemporary pop art techniques to show off 60's pop art fashion...

Antonio, New York Times Magazine 1967

Glamorous, inspirational and absorbing. Plus not one pixel of computer-generated images on display.