Folio I · Inventory of practice
What the studio does, openly —
and what it won't.
A short working catalogue. Things I'll draw, write or compose — paired with a list of polite refusals. The decisions still happen over coffee, not on a slide.
A note on how the studio works
— A working note, not a manifesto.
Designing a brand is not chasing trends. It is the long argument before the work — the part where the uncomfortable brief becomes the real one. A studio of one set of hands, working slowly, on purpose, with a small number of clients per year and a quiet preference for projects that will outlive their first season.
The work,
marked openly.
Ten lines. No fence-sitting. The work this studio takes on — and the work it refuses, plainly.
- 01 Will
design a label the most discerning aunt won't be ashamed of.
- 02 Won't
redesign a logo every six months.
- 03 Will
argue back on a brief before drawing a line.
- 04 Won't
add stock music and call it scoring.
- 05 Will
call your printer before quoting.
- 06 Won't
work from a PowerPoint brief alone.
- 07 Will
document the decisions, not just the outcomes.
- 08 Won't
render five variations to see what works.
- 09 Will
compose an original score, only when the room insists.
- 10 Won't
take more than four projects a year.
What the studio is made of,
in six items.
An honest cross-section of the daily tools — sketched, not staged. Stand-ins for the longer answer to "what kind of studio is this".
- Item 01
Notebook — Moleskine, large soft
Filled at a rate the projects can't quite match. Reads like a graveyard of decent first lines.
- Item 02
Pencil — Faber-Castell, B
Preferred to ink, while it's still possible to take it back. Decisions get harder when you commit early.
- Item 03
Risograph — two colours, off by a hair
What looks like a printer error is usually the printer being honest. The studio prints small editions when the brief allows.
- Item 04
Type — Switzer Light, 300
Neutral, direct, low theatre. The studio's voice without the studio's accent. Letter-spacing kept tight, weight kept honest.
- Item 05
Piano — Yamaha U1, upright
No quiet hours. The neighbours upstairs disagree; the work continues anyway. Half of every score begins as a single chord, repeated.
- Item 06
Coffee — the third one
Where the real brief tends to appear, after the polite one has been written down and quietly retired. A studio constant, not a metaphor.
Start a brief
A small studio,
working slowly,
on purpose.
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