Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.

Wading knee-deep in snow, enduring below zero temperatures and the light fading, was an unusual setting for a client meeting. Unusually good to clarify! The setting was the Dolomite mountains, being this particular brands ‘home’, the environment where their apparel is designed to be used in, and surroundings they deeply care about.?

It gave immediate context beyond what any brief could capture.?As an Executive Creative Designer, immersing in a brands DNA, understanding their business and products, prior to developing any design vision is key.

This particular client ‘meeting’ also elevated attention to a number of resonating retail design principles, that being: recycling; up-cycling; and sustainability. In this case, even ‘flagship’ status doesn’t mean filling numerous skips and replacing with all new, instead creating a vision that considers the most sustainable design, processes, materiality and sources.

Closer to home, I’m very pleased as gpstudio we have just incorporated into a design in Knightsbridge London, the wood from an oak tree planted over 200years ago. Totally sustainably sourced, given new meaning by Tom Hoblyn and sculpted by Jan Hendzel for the Chelsea Flower Show in ’21, and now just entering its ‘third life’ only a few miles from its original location of planting.?

Its rekindled my love for the?Quercus robur, and rather than treading on their acorns underfoot (squashing them into the pavement where they’ve fallen), I’ve this year collected one to grown at home, in a borosilicate glass vase by Ilex Studio. Progress is slow (as you can see from the header picture!), but nonetheless, growth… I will keep you posted!