Time to Confess?

Another recently completed project - The Confession Box.
A city centre bar located in the Square Shopping centre in
Birmingham city centre. The concept behind our latest
project is driven by the name and the owners Roman
Catholic heritage. We used a luxurious palette of dark reds,
purples and eclectic patterns across the walls and furniture.

All the furniture is reclaimed from the owners other pubs
and has been given a new lease of life with the vibrant
palette. Located next to the new Birmingham Ballroom
The Confession box is the perfect 'pre ballroom' bar.


Kancho creative is an experienced, multi-disciplinary
agency providing comprehensive creative solutions across,
many disciplines. Specialising in branding, interior design,
design for print and web.

To find out how we could help your business
please email us at studio@kancho.co.uk

The Value of (good) Design

On completion of a recent project (see our last post) link here
on launch night, where everyone involved in the project has
a nervous energy and joe public is interacting with the space
we have considered and slaved over for the past month.
Our client came out with a gem that stuck with me through
dinner and copious amounts of wine.

He said, 'it's the best decision I've made...
to hire you guys as my designers'.

Now that's always nice to hear!

Our client, who is a very nice bloke and I'm sure he wont mind
me saying this, is a very stereotypical client, who also said that
he would have 'painted everything magnolia and put up some
pictures'. He has realised the benefits of hiring professionals
to consider the space and how it works as a public venue.

This client has now commissioned us for a fast food outlet
over in Aberystwyth, which we will be working on
in the new year.

Kancho creative is an experienced, multi-disciplinary

agency providing comprehensive creative solutions across,

many disciplines. Specialising in branding, interior design,

design for print and web.

To find out how we could help your business 

please email us at studio@kancho.co.uk

Orchid - Pan Asian Restaurant: Aberystwyth

Despite our website being moved to a new server & consequently
broke! Here's one of our latest projects which we completed mid
November. Orchid Pan Asian restaurant in Aberystwyth,
for the full project click here

In the mean time here are a few shots.

We created the brand and interior for Orchid, with a main focus
on lighting. We designed a dark walnut platform as a ceiling
installation, creating a dramatic main light feature for the pendants
to hang from. The collection of lanterns can also be seen from the
promenade outside, making the restaurant look cosy and inviting
to passers by.

Our main interpretation of the brief was 'fine dining with a hint
of Thai influence'. We achieved this with a predominantly subtle
colour palette, mixing a bold splash of red with textures, patterns
and paper lanterns.

We are pleased with the result & our client was so pleased
he has commissioned us for his next project!!

Infact, a conversation on the launch event with the client
has led me writing a new blog post - which will be here
very soon!

Predicting Trends

Design is a reciprocal cycle. As is fashion, this is an excuse for me

to keep hold of those dodgy checked trousers from the 90's ive

never worn in the hope they will be cool again one day!

Being an innovator and a good designer is tricky at the best of times,

so predicting trends is a key part of our job. We never follow trends,

but sometimes a client is influenced by something they have seen so

this will affect the outcome of a project. Whether its brand, print

or especially interior design, i see things that we have either done

or have seen done by people we admire that get replicated,

become mainstream and are blogged about.

What made me decide to write a blog post about this is,

elle decoration. We are launching a Thai Restaurant in

Aberystwyth that we actually designed a couple of months ago

- www.orchidaberystwyth.co.uk

For the main lighting feature, we specified a cluster of 17 bulbs

hanging from a centre wooden console all at different heights

all with different shaped white chinese paper lanterns.

Flicking through 'elle deco' the other day i see these are everywhere

now! So for the next few months our lighting installation will be

bang on trend! I believe the overall design is strong enough to

last longer than the trend will allow!

Of course we cant or wont discuss what concepts we are working

on for our next project, lets just hope we have predicted the trend

correctly again!

PS. Keep an eye out for 3 new projects on our main site soon!

Hairy Haloween

Had fun in the studio on monday, creating these haloween

characters for the Hairy Lemon Haloween promotional material.

One of the 'lemon heads' will be appearing on a flyer/poster near you soon!

sneak peak

Here's a sneak peak on a restaurant project we are working on.

Full project will be posted on completion!

Kancho mobile blogging

U gotta love useful iphone apps, im writing this post from the kitchen in the office!

Will hopefully get chance to blog a bit more regularly now.

Summer School at Kancho

Hello Kancho fans,

You might wonder why I look a bit like this today.

...It's because my time with Howard & Lisa of Kancho Creative is coming to an end (sigh). I'm only a bit confused as to why I didn't snap up a video diary of the last four weeks - there have been some super exciting moments I only wish I could have shared with you all! What have I enjoyed the most? ...making frothy coffee... setting up a photography studio next door with a bit of sticky tape, a chair & a hoover end... And who's to forget some of the most scrumptious lunches any intern could wish for!

But let's not forget what I've learnt ...How to make a envelope liner, how to work faster, how to use Adobe Dreamweaver, how to answer the Kancho phone, how to let Howard borrow my sandwich : ) how to get great ideas, how to research cool packaging, cool interiors, & super cool logos. The list goes on fans.

But the best of it all is that Kancho have taught me how to progress, how to be proactive & determined. They have shown me that things can happen, if you want them too.

www.welivenow.org

I can't thank H&L enough for agreeing to my working with them. Keep being amazing both, your work makes my world go happy. Let's not get rid of each other, as I miss making talking of the design world with you already. A special thank you to Howard for designing my website www.jodieatkins.co.uk I can't thank you enough for setting me up.

So by now you must be wondering what projects we've been working on in the last four weeks... Well that is all that to come, including Kancho designs for Chop & Wok restaurants, Honey Bee's Vintage Teas, Masetti wines, Orchid fine dining & designs by silver sixpence weddings. www.silversixpence.uk.com Watch this space!

In the meantime some snippets that will leave you inspired x

Jodie Atkins

Junior Designer

Kancho loves letterpress

State Of The Obvious

Today in the office we've been admiring this range of products from Mash Creative.

S/O/T/O Notebooks have been bound in Wibalin Buckram over 2250 micron board. They are available in either silver or clear foil debossed cover, hardback sewn and case bound.

If you fancy getting your hands on these notebooks too then click through to their shop here.

Hotel Motel Holiday Inn

Last month, we branded and organised the launch event of a new

Holiday Inn in Birmingham for our client and hotel proprietor

Ace Hospitality. After 3 weeks of stressing managing rsvp's

and guest lists the event was a total success!!

The evening consisted of a formal presentation and hotel viewings

followed by a fun Casino which was fantastic and all enjoyed by all!

Heres a few photos of the event, courtesy of the excellent

10 foot tall photography - cheers guys!

Mind Bending Interiors

Alter Store by 3Gatti Architecture - Naked mannequins sit on the walls and ceiling of a clothes store in Shanghai, inspired by the artist MC Escher. Sonja Long, the owner, had a vision about inverted values, alternative beauties and subverted points of view. This idea sparked 3Gatti to create an alternative clothes store, representing these values across their interiors in a creative and mind - bending way.

Last year, Kancho blogged about D'espresso, a café in New York. This café has a similar mind-bending concept to Alter Store. Nema Workshop created a space which creates the illusion the room has been turned on it's side by fitting the door, ceiling and walls with full size photographs of bookshelves printed on tiles. There's also gravity defying lamps - these make the room appear that it's on its side. The design is directly inspired by the spinning camera scene in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

D'espresso has a lovely designed flash site too. For more photos of D'espresso's crazy interiors take a look here.

This post was written by Kerry Leslie, who is on a work placement at Kancho. Kerry hunted down D'espresso in April whilst on a university trip after seeing it on a number of blogs such as coolhunter. She says it was well worth finding, and recommends to anybody who is visiting New York to go look for it.

Ace Hospitality foiled textured business cards

Its been like a business card factory here lately! Freshly foiled

by the excellent A14 print finishers are these holographic foil

on gf smith 'monaco' textured business cards.

These cards are a part of a full rebrand for Ace Hospitality,

hoteliers and hospitality company. The concept behind these

business cards is a high class paying card, which fits in perfectly

with Ace's latest project - the launch of the Holiday Inn Express,

Birmingham South which we are also organising as a casino evening.

More images of the event will be posted shortly. To view the project

on our main site - click here

.

Rediscover - business cards

Client, Debbie Belnavis is a life coach, who asked Kancho

for some new business cards. Voilà here they are, all parties

very happy! As shown below, we selected a colour palette

that is sympathetic to the existing logo and used quotes from

influential people including one from Debbie herself!

Troika

Been around for a while i know, but just stumbled

on these again. Love love love what Troika do!!

Troika_Falling Light from Troika on Vimeo.

Not so sunny cornwall

Last weekend, we took a couple of days out and stayed

with friends in Sunny (not so much) Cornwall. Much

booze was drank and so much food was consumed we

are now on a strict diet this week!

We ate at Jamie Olivers 15 on Saturday morning

which was ace and is thoroughly recommended.

On Sunday, we visited 'Padstein' as its now known

due to the fact that Rick Stein owns half the town!

Again fish and chips from his chippy were a hit with

team kancho. Cornwall is brill!!

Worst Logo Ever?

Saw this in the gym carpark on saturday & it made me

sick in my mouth a little. I get that the shapes used must

mean something in the fire and security business, but it's

so poorly executed. Yuk! Does anyone have evidence of

anything worse than this?

The Students are not revolting.

As a city centre agency we get requests from students of all ages

asking for jobs and placements. Due to a hectic schedule this summer

we arent offering any internships, as we feel it wouldnt be fair on

the intern. We wouldnt have the time dedicate and nurture anyone.

One graduate caught our eye, by posting us a fun self promo piece.

She obviously has read our blog and got a feel for who we are.

Jodie Atkins from University of Gloucester sent us a boxed,

handwritten letter with a tiny red converse shoe and a small

printed booklet with images of the chuck taylor and our website!

Now a number of things that we like here.

1. Handwritten (in legible handwriting) letter

2. Cardboard box secured with twine

3. Tiny red chuck taylor boot

So very big respect to Jodie, and if we were able to house

interns this year, she would be first on the list!! Check out

her blog here. And here are a couple of pics of what she

sent to us.

All other students out there, Jodie has raised the bar and

if you want to gain attention from Creative Directors in

agencies, you should take a leaf from her book!

(but dont copy, thats not cool!)

Websites we are loving this month

three60

–

made

–

grooveshark

–

1810 New Site

Heres the story, about 3 years ago, we set up the brand id and website

for long term client, The 1810 Company and have been producing their

marketing collateral eversince. However technology moves on and

product ranges outgrow the existing site. So following a month of

blood, sweat and coding we are pleased to announce the launch

of the new site.

The new site is much more product focussed and is easy to navigate

through the product range. With a CMS for the news and product

sections and client login areas with trade pricing and marketing

downloads - we and the client are extremely happy with the result

Take a look look - www.the1810company.co.uk

10 Bears Installation

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to the launch of 10 Bears
first, post university commission at the Royal Othorpedic Hospital
in Brum. We had a great night and it was very well attended, even
by a minor local celeb!! Here are a few shots of 10 bears signature
artwork. All the designs are bespoke to various individuals from

the hospital, based on a q & a session.

Thriller in the City

Lisa aka 'Tiny Dancer' turned zombie on Saturday

taking part in the Thriller in the city flash mob.

She is somewhere in the roudy mob in the vid below.

Prizes for those who spot her?!

10 Bears Tshirts

Friend and artist 10 bears called in on friday, to drop off

the present, he promised me a year ago! But he redeemed

himself by bringing not one but two tshirts with my own

personal design on & his signature 10 bears logo.

Take a look, i will be flaunting my new tshirts around town

throughout the summer!

New Team Member

This fella arrived today, doesnt say much but seems fairly bright!!

Chop chop for chop and wok

Great new business win for us at Kancho!

We have been appointed as interior designers

for Chop and Wok Ltd's new Sutton Coldfield

outlet. We are delighted with this opportunity

and will be working closely with the chop and wok

team over the coming months!

More Folio Updates

Following on from our last post, we have updated our site

with images from the basement lounge-bar The Bitter End.

Which is underneath The Hairy Lemon, Sutton Coldfield.

With an open book, we branded and design the venue

(all within 3 weeks, i might add!) And are very pleased

with the result. The Bitter End will be Coming to the

Erdington branch soon. Visit our site - HERE

to see The Bitter End in all its glory

The Hairy Lemon

We have recently completed our first Hairy Lemon project!

Thats right, you read that right - The Hairy Lemon.

We launched the flagship venue in Sutton Coldfield earlier

this month, and are finalising the second in Erdington High

street this friday. If you are near Erdington at 7pm on 11th

March, please come and join us for a Guinness or 2!

The initial project was completed on a very tight turnaround

of 3 weeks from concept to completion. We were on site for

the final week to oversee finishes and installation of furniture

and interior graphics. We have given the brand a full identity

system with a content managed site on the way, and will be

rolling the concept out over 4 venues over the coming year!

Visit our site to see some images of the Sutton Venue and

keep an eye out for the launch of the Hairy Lemon site.

Photography by the ever brilliant 10 Foot Tall Photography

Ruby Murray

We are in the final stages of completion for our client,

Mount Battens an indian restaurant in Evesham and

recieved the new menu holders this week. These are ace!

The interior fit out is next week & we cant wait to see

finished product!