Conran: Have your cake and eat it!

If you like cakes – you’ll love this….

Studio Conran has created the identity, branding, packaging and splash page for new independent food company Petit Pois

The company’s cakes, which are the brain-child of dynamic duo Ashley Maddox and Harry Eastwood, are made using vegetables instead of butter and some of the sugar. The product will launch in Selfridges Food Halls on March 15, 2011.

Each cake has just the thinnest layer of icing and is topped with a little green marzipan pea to indicate that it’s genuinely good for you.

Studio Conran intuitively understood the Petit Pois brand from the word ‘go’. In four short weeks, they created a visual identity for Petit Pois that is bright, fresh, exciting, and exactly what we were hoping for.

Ashley Maddox, Petit Pois

The brief was to create a visual identity that conveyed a distinctively honest, natural and mischievous brand identity that interacted with the customer in a playful way, whilst reflecting the healthy yet stylish characteristics of the Petit Pois cakes.

The logo reflects the straightforward nature of the cakes—a simple green circle symbolising the cake’s pea sits in the centre of the circular logo. It was integrated successfully into the packaging through the use of the green stripe running through the centre of the logo, which ties back to the idea that the pea symbolizing ‘the craftsman’s mark’ is at the heart of what Petit Pois does.

The logo’s placement on the box with the green stripe running out from under it gives it the appearance of a rosette with a ribbon running over the box, adding to the playful nature of the presentation.

Bryony Akehurst, designer, Studio Conran

The retro rainbow palette adopted by the Studio Conran team for the packaging provides a happy balance between the organic and the eye-catching with each coloured stripe representing a different grated fruit or vegetable used by the company in their recipes. The packaging also includes a playful inner tray, which reveals the ‘hidden vegetable ingredients’ in a light-hearted and engaging way.

The cakes themselves are obviously the star of the show but we’ve introduced vibrant, distinctive pantones in to the packaging that match the colours of the vegetables that Petit Pois use in their cakes. The packaging is fresh, contemporary and immediately recognizable, which is the least these delicious cakes deserve.

Flo Bayley, Studio Conran.

This post makes very hard reading if you are feeling peckish….

Conran: New Conran Audio iPod dock is here

We’ve been talking about our brand new Conran iPod dock for a while now but have had to wait patiently until the first batch hit the UK before we could finally get our hands on one.

Well, we are pleased to report they are now here!  And they are looking – and sounding – absolutely fantastic.

Available in sleek black – for techno-lovers –  or bright white – to fit in with a stylish, modern Conran-esque interior – they have been designed by Studio Conran.

Their fabulous sound has been engineered by Q Acoustics and what’s more  not only can you dock your iPod/iPhone in the neat holster (which rotates for both a portrait and landscape view of the screen) but Bluetooth™ connectivity also allows the docks to be used wirelessly with any compatible device. Easy.

As Terence says…

“You can choose your song selection from the comfort of an armchair or, if it’s your thing, while dancing around the room.” Absolutely.

If the technology side of things doesn’t mean much to you then simply revel in the dock’s clean lines, ease of use (there’s even a little magnetic docking station for the remote control) and maybe even the lovely little dial at the side which lights up in different colours for different settings – seriously it’s some people’s favourite bit…

Watch the video via the link below to have a look at all the docks fabulous features…

Watch Video

Click to buy on conranshop.co.uk

Conran Audio is a new range developed in partnership with audio experts Armour Home Electronics – read more about the range here.

Read our post about the press launch of the dock

Conran: Notes from Ambiente

Trade show season again! Here are some thoughts and favourite things seen at Ambiente in Frankfurt from Wolfgang Zender and Afshin Mehin, product designers from Studio Conran

Wolfgang’s choices: Fold up bucket

The best thing about going to a fair is to find something which has been done a thousand times, but then you see it done better. It seems very obvious – it is easy to collapse and takes up no space at all.

Airtight canister by Jia inc

At first glance you mistake it for just another storage container with the usual silicone lid.

Taking it into your hands you discover a product with a nice finish, nice shape and an unusual material: Terracotta.

It is nice to see such an old material being used in a modern context.

Afshin’s choices…

There were a lot of great things to see at the fair but  a couple of pieces that stayed with me were:

A collection for Rosenthal called Papyrus that had a really elegant surface texture that was inspired by a rolled up strip of paper.  It was nice how the texture of the pages create a nice sense of movement and lightness within each of the objects.

On a more light hearted note, Menu did a very entertaining wobbling and rolling salt and pepper shaker that made passing the salt a lot more fun. The way they rocked back and forth was quite delightful and it was nice that the objects themselves were quite visually paired down.

Conran: Pop-up gallery in the Brighton office….

Last Thursday evening, the Conran & Partners Brighton office transformed itself from productive studio to bustling gallery to host the private view of a retrospective show of photographer Greg Daville’s work.

The event was organised by Arts & Business who help forge valuable partnerships with businesses, arts and cultural organisations.

The exhibition, Urbicide, focuses on buildings that are photographed then structurally altered by digital manipulation, the original photographs providing the raw material for their own re-structuring.

The event was a huge success with more than 130 people coming from far and wide to attend the exhibition.  Both Jane Chambers from Arts and Business and Paul Zara from Conran & Partners said a few words with Toby Amis, a close friend of Greg’s,  giving a moving tribute to the artist.

Read more about what’s going on in our Brighton office here….

Conran: Pick of the month and a vintage ‘something for the weekend’

This month’s quick staff pick: a little piece of architectural inspiration from Conran & Partners 3d visualiser Daniel Gill.

My pick of the week is this striking micro home in Japan and is an amazing example of efficient design for small-space living.

Designed by Tokyo-based Atelier Tekuto, the faceted three-story home is located on a small corner lot near the center of Tokyo.

Abstractly titled “Reflection of Mineral“, the home is a study in small spaces, simple finishes, and day lighting through the use of transparent and opaque surfaces that suffuse the interior with light.

It could just be the camera lens but it has an amazing ‘tardis’ like quality!

Read more about the work of the Conran 3d visualisation team here

Fancy some vintage this weekend? Head to the London Vintage Fashion, Textiles & Accessories fair – you might even pick up an original Conran artefact or two…

Conran: New side tables from Content by Conran…

Hot off the production line and in-store this week – our fab new side tables from Content by Conran.

Both the ‘Knight’ and ‘Bishop’ tables are, unsurprisingly, inspired by the forms of chess pieces and make witty and flexible additions to any room around the house…

They are £199 each so are perfect for updating your interior for Spring without spending a fortune…

Click here to buy

Conran:..Keeping it Green…

Back in August we talked about meeting some great people from Scrapstores UK, the charity that collects all that lovely stuff we just don’t need anymore….old fabric samples, leftover paint, large rolls of paper that’s the wrong colour…and stores them for distribution to children’s and community projects.

After our first deluge of stuff which we took down to their launch event on Potter’s Fields near Conran head office we had quite a bit more to get rid of 6-odd months later…

Just a quick phone call though and those helpful people at Scrapstores were on hand with a van to pick it up – ready to take it away to its next creative incarnation.

Find out more about Scrapstores near you here

Conran: Jobs – Product and Domestic Furniture designer sought

Conran and Company – our branded projects department – are looking for a highly creative candidate with a broad range of design experience across many categories – including homewares, furniture and lighting.

We are looking for an individual who is passionate about contemporary design, can deliver sketch through to 3D models at a fast pace and understands the parameters of commercial product design for brand partners, retailers and the high street.

Think that’s you?

Click here to read the full job spec and details of how to apply...

Conran: Sneak peek at new designs from Content by Conran

It’s all go at our furniture line  Content by Conran at the moment…

January is a very busy month for buyers with various tradeshows to visit to headhunt fab new product for next year. And with both Maison Objet in full swing across the channel and the vast Interiors show at the NEC there is plenty to keep both professionals and keen amateurs inspired.

Interiors is one of the largest furniture shows in Europe – and Content by Conran are always there to showcase their newest offerings to retailers from all around the globe.

The team from Conran & Company – who work on all our Conran branded products – are involved right from the beginning of the process, helping the Content team develop new product, producing marketing materials, planning the stand and of course – bracing the arctic temperatures inside the big exhibition hall – helping to set up and style the stand ready for retailers to flock.

Holly-Anne Rolfe has been doing the show for the past 3 years….

The new products we have developed this year are looking great! We are really trying to promote our bespoke fabric option so we have had some fun with some of our iconic bestsellers – like upholstering the back of this Matador love seat in gorgeous fabric from Sanderson and swapping plain cushions on our Aspen chair for some covered in this Romo print– we love the yellow! Plus I’m really pleased with the vintage lights we’ve hired from Reclaimed Enjoyment – they work really well in the space…

..stand in progress

..almost done

It was Jess Corteen’s first year at the show but she seemed to be taking it all in her stride….

It all seems to be going pretty smoothly, apart from the fact we turned up and the floor hadn’t been painted yet! It’s fine though, we seem to be getting on really well now – everything looks great. I’ve got to paint the legs on one of our sofas bright purple now!

A definite favourite has to be our new high-sided Clifton sofa designed in a beautiful tonal palette.

Gorgeous!

Watch this space for more news….and follow the progress of the new pieces at the photoshoot for this year’s new catalogue…it’s looking good….