STUDIO VISIT
THE ARCHIPELAGO
Yesterday I went on my studio visit to The Archipelago, a small design studio situated in the Tower Works complex in Leeds, down at Granary Wharf.
Tower works:
The row of studio shop fronts:
The view outside of The Archipelago:
The Communal kitchen facilities:
The Archipelago:
I also spotted Robot Food's studio whom I am awaiting a reply from:
First impressions, location and studio:
I had never visited this specific section of Leeds before and so when I made it down to the location of the studio I was greatly impressed. The site combines a large range of different creative studios including photographers, Graphic designers and architects to name a few, in a structure that combined both the old frame of tower works with a contemporary minimalist twist. Each of the studios, which ranged in size, have large windows towards the front looking out over an empty courtyard with trains passing in and out of the train station in the background. As I sat on one of the benches outside waiting to see Mike, It felt like a really inspiring location, and somewhere I would look forward to coming to work every day.
When I was welcomed inside the studio, I did notice it was quite small, however with a small team of 3, there was more than enough room. It was extremely light, and therefore appeared spacious, especially with the large windows. There are no facilities in the studio themselves for leisure and so all the studios share one large space within tower works where they can make food, drinks and eat. I thought this was pretty cool as it would give you the chance to interact with other creatives, and not just those on your team.
I was also introduced to Ollie who is the intern currently at The Archipelago. Mike explained to me that every year he takes on an Intern for 6 months, who helps out on all projects and gains experience working in the studio. Ollie will be leaving in June and therefore The Archipelago will be looking for a new intern. As previously said by Mike, he usually looks to Leeds students first for any internships as he wants to give back to the Leeds design community, he was also a student at Leeds college of Art and so likes to give students who were in his position the first shot. He also discussed how he attends all of the end of year shows for Leeds students, and often looks for a potential internship there, therefore if I had no contact with him again, I would probably see him there.
Portfolio work:
Next we moved onto looking at my portfolio of work, I was both nervous and excited for this part, as I have never had someone in industry see my work and was interested to see what their opinion would be. Overall he was very impressed with the work I had done stating that it was one of the better portfolios he had seen. Things that he liked were my ability to work on a range of different projects including branding and packaging to also projects such as pattern design, card stationary and animation. He also enjoyed such as my projects with Cath Kidston and Yankee candle, my ability to adapt my work to brands that already had a signature style.
From my portfolio his favourite pieces of work were:
Heavenly.
I think what Mike found most impressive about this project was the amoutn fo research that had gone behind each element of the design and range, which was unavoidable as it was my research topic. He also liked the consistency across the project and was very impressed that I had illustrated the images myself, and made a successful animation on my first time using After effects.
Bradley Sykes Architect.
Out of the selection I think that this was probably Mikes most favourite, signalling that it was 'right up his street' and that it is something similar to the kind of work he likes to produce. He also seemed impressed at how considered the production processes were, using embossing to emphasise the use of texture, and appreciate the stock itself rather than printing over it. As this is what the architect I am working with likes to do in his own work. He seemed impressed that I have been approached by a few people also including the project I did for Kate Spreckley and the day workshop with DR.ME.
Mac cosmetics x Alice in Wonderland.
Again with the Alice in Wonderland themed MAC cosmetics packaging, although it is not something that would be produced out of his studio, he was again very impressed by production and how the processes I had chosen lined to the film and concept. He also again enjoyed that I had created the illustrations for the MAC packaging myself. I explained that illustrative work it where a lot of my focus lies.
I also spoke to Mike about my transition through design work, referring to the idea that, when I first began studying, I felt that everything had to have a lot of bells and whistles and be very highly illustrated with a lot of flourishes etc. However progressing, especially through third year and in the last 2-3 months I have come to realise how important simplicity and minimalism is, and that a powerful, strong and simple mark can communicate just as much as the designs I was producing before.
Yankee Candle Packaging.
Again Mike was impressed my ability to fit in with the already existing Yankee Candle brand. He also seemed to like the idea that I had individually painted the textures for each of the pieces of packaging. This prompted him to ask about my design background, and whether I like to turn to more traditional ways of designing. And I started to notice as I looked through my portfolio with Mike how much I integrated more traditional production processes into my work such as; foiling, embossing and screen printing. This in fact made me question and make a realisation about my own way of working. Before I had started on the course I knew very little about the Adobe suite and had almost no experience using it, and so my very roots in beginning my Graphic design career were things that I could create avoiding the computer, and so I noticed that although I am now digitally equipped, I always seem to lean back to my art dominated roots.
We finished the meeting discussing more about how the studio works on an average day and week. Mike stated how he and Ollie tend to work on a number of different projects each day, spending a few hours on each. He also discussed how regularly they have to complete projects on a very short timescale, which does seem stressful and something I am not particularly used to, but i'm guessing if entering the industry this is something I will come into contact with a lot and so it would be good to get some experience working to such tight deadlines.
Mike asked me if there was anything I would like to know about the studio and so I took it as the right time to enquire about placements. Mike let me know that as a newly established studio that is only a few years old, they have never actually had a placement and only longer term interns (6 months). However he stated that after seeing my portfolio that he would be very much interested. Unfortunately at the time the project manager was not in the studio and so Mike was unable to discuss the thoughts on placement. Therefore he asked me to email back in about 2 weeks time after they have spoken and things have quietened down to find out if there will be an opportunity to work there.
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