BP&O

Opinion by Richard Baird Åhléns began in 1899 as a small mail-order business. Aside from it being one of the oldest it has also grown to become one of the largest retail chains in Sweden. By carefully collating a variety of items across brands and price categories, the retailer maintains its relevance today, understanding and responding to the many ways in which its customers have changed over its long history. Happy FB, the Scandinavian design studio behind Åhléns new visual identity, puts it simply...

Opinion by Richard Baird Old Elephant House is a new brasserie and courtyard bar in the former elephant enclosure at Auckland Zoo. It offers an à la carte menu and set three-course meals made up of light and elegant dishes. It is a building that is distinct in its proportions and location, with tall doors and windows from which to hear the distant calling siamang gibbons. Taking cues from the animals of the zoo and their jungle habitats, and with a mind towards a relaxed environment for family and...

Opinion by Richard Baird The New Victory Theatre, located on New York’s 42nd Street, is described as the city’s first and only not for profit performing arts venue for kids and families. It has a programme that covers a multitude of artistic disciplines and draws on traditions from a variety of cultures. Alongside performances and family workshops the theatre also seeks to offer performing arts education and engagement, new work development and furthers paid youth employment and training. Pentagram...

Opinion by Richard Baird Ascari is an Italian restaurant which two locations, one on Queens Street East and another newly opened establishment on King St West. Toronto, Canada. It is named after the proprietor’s hero, Formula 1 legend, Alberto Ascari, (who was also known for his love of food). To reflect both the passion for good simple food and racing, design studio Blok developed an identity that brings together the visual cues and photography of 1950’s motor sport with a modern use of colour–the striking blue of Alberto Ascari’s helmet–and the outlines and solid fill logotype...

Opinion by Richard Baird. Fluvia is a range of adaptable lighting solutions from LED Simon that intends to offer a creative freedom in commercial and private lighting projects. Design, rather than an absolute utility, is an essential and unifying quality of the range with products developed to be attractive and convenient, easy to use and deploy within a space, and broken down and recycled. To cast aside its corporate image and convey a sense of contemporary elegance, Fluvia worked with Spanish graphic design studio Folch to develop a richer and more distinct graphic identity...

Opinion by Richard Baird Freadman White is a Melbourne-based architectural practice, led by Ilana Freadman and Michael White, that seeks to embed a curiosity-driven and experientially charged tension into their architectural work, reveal beauty in simple and overlooked settings, and design contextually informed structures with a disciplined whimsy. Further, rather than responding literally to physical surroundings, the practice develops spaces that are visually intriguing, emotionally resonant, sensorial and textural “informed by memories of place and the achievements of modern architecture”...

This is the first in a series of original articles that build on eight years of writing reviews. Where other publishers do well to bring us the zeitgeist and explore the pragmatics of graphic design BP&O will seek the abstract and meta. This first article experiments with two interwoven narratives; the delineation between the practice of collation and curation in design publishing and how the new metrics of the net impose themselves on today’s design work. The language of graphic design can quickly become a demarcated space of constrained thought...

Jack Self (JS) is a London-based architect and writer. He is the director of the real foundation and editor-in-chief of the real review, a magazine that explores, through a variety of topics and lenses, what it means to live today...

Opinion by Richard Baird Kaiyo, formerly Furnishare, is an online platform for the reselling and buying of used furniture, currently available in New York City and New Jersey, but with the intention to expand this internationally. Kaiyo picks up, inspects, cleans, photographs and uploads furniture to its online catalogue, easing the difficulties of selling secondhand online. It is part of a growing up-cycling movement, challenges the notion of seasonality promoted by large furniture retailers and...

Opinion by Richard Baird Vega Scene is space for food and culture located on the river Akerselva in the centre of Oslo. It features three film screens, a theatre, debate lounge, an organic and sustainable cafe and a wine and cocktail bar. Vega Scene sits within an area of urban culture, features a distinctive exterior of burgundy concave panelling and vertical slats, and a visual identity of colour blocking, arrows, monospaced typeface and motion designed by Norwegian studio Metric. This visual...

Opinion by Richard Baird. Tea & Glory are loose-leaf tea experts and are described as the antithesis of fast-paced coffee culture. In the same spirit of ancient tea drinking rituals, the brand is interested in the continued promotion of slow-living, a lifestyle that seeks to place more focus on the small details and experiences of everyday life. With a desire to better express this position Tea & Glory worked with London-based design studio Socio Design to develop a visual identity, packaging system...

Opinion by Richard Baird Hair Solutions is an enhancer, made from botanical concentrates, that can be added to any brand of shampoo, personalising it to meet 66 different haircare scenarios through a combination of formulations directed at 6 categories (normal, dry, wavy, flaky and colour-treated and fine) and 11 concerns (brittle, dry, oily, thin, wavy or colour-treated, split-ends, frizz, low-shine or volume issues and curl definition). To help users identify the perfect product, the line will be supported by an online hair-quiz, and a brand identity designed by Paul Belford Ltd...