1. Agency;

We were commissioned again by the 580 group to conceive a name, develop an identity and produce interior design elements for their new Portsmouth offering. 

What's in a name

We wanted to settle on something with a nautical nod, but not overly so.

We were inspired by the famous Tennyson poem...

Below the thunders of the upper deep; 
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, 
His antient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumber'd and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

..... and settled on the name "The Kraken Wakes".


Visualising

We commissioned some external visual research around the idea 'The Kraken Wakes'; enlisting the help of Tomas Klassnik, Riitta Ikonen, Sarah Bagner and Jiggery Pokery.

Many rich visuals provided food for thought for both the visual identity and interiors...



A good start from Riitta...










For the interiors, we liked the idea of a Kraken awakening and bringing with it rich treasures in its wake. A lot of Sarah's references reinforced this.






... rich potential in the curious elements found in a cluttered captain's cabin.





Logotype

Our focus returned to a logotype for The Kraken Wakes. These references demonstrate the feel of what was sought...








Our final logotype

Enlisting the input of Chris Clarke we arrived at a final iteration




Interior

The Kraken Wakes benefits from being a dramatic and well appointed listed building. Without overloading the space, interior elements and effects had to be of scale.





Tomas Klassnik designed a dramatic lighting effect for a large section of the front bar.




Through our neighbours Start on Rivington Street we commissioned the brilliant Philip to produce a huge anchor.

YCN's Hen Swift designed and produced a massive netting effect to run the length of the bar filled with colourful handmade fish.




We commissioned David Sparshott to work directly onto some of the walls. 




Jiggery Pokery produced some seagull lighting.


A bespoke gallery display system

There was a requirement to develop a 'cabinet of curiosities' style display system to house specially commissioned installations, changing over time. Tomas Klassnik designed our system, and we commissioned Riitta Ikonon to produce the first content to live within it. Riitta was in New York at the time of the commission...



Riitta collected a plethora of pieces washed ashore to ship to YCN with detailed specifications of how to arrange into an intricate series of assemblages. Each was shown within a bespoke display unit.
















All of Riitta's extraordinary assemblages can be seen in a separate case study here.





 

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