With only 24 hours left of my London life, I came across an invitation to tour the West London-based office of the award-winning Pearlfisher. Most likely known by Dieline readers for their impressive roster of packaging design clients, Pearlfisher seems to have touched every product I had been admiring on the British shelves for the last 6 months. The cute Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons, the new beauty brand Cheeky with it’s fun illustrations and the fancy packaged Lurpak, slow churned butter. Their office is located in a historic, converted school building that felt quintessentially British to this American girl. As I approached the entrance I saw memories of the building’s history – “graffiti” near the front doorway. Not spray paint, but school kids names carved into the red brick wall to mark their moment in time. But all that history was left behind as I walked through the front door and stepped into a bright, contemporary space with high ceilings and a gorgeous reception area. It was a space filled with the energy of vision, innovation and design.
I was met by Chloe Charlwood, the Senior Marketing & Communications Manager, and my tour kicked off. The building has four floors, two of which are dedicated entirely as studio space for the different teams of creative thought leaders. As I walked around peeking over shoulders I noticed the wide range of different skill sets each employee was bringing to the table (or their computer monitors). There were mock ups and print outs of new work launching, and I even saw some yummy samples from that big Cadbury client of theirs.
While seeing the buzz of “work in action” is inspiring, nothing could top the excitement of Pearlfisher’s in-house gallery space and its current exhibition. Titled “JUMP IN!” the vast and open gallery room has been transformed into a ball pit. With 81,000 white, plastic balls filling up the large space, Chloe encouraged me to do just that – JUMP IN! And, of course, I did. The concept behind the exhibition is that play can bring extraordinary results for creative thinking. It is a celebration of creativity and the positive human connections made through the power of joyful play. JUMP IN! was open to the public and Chloe told me that the response was amazing, making a huge impact and even garnering international headlines. I think it’s a true testament to the unique spirit of Pearlfisher’s founding partners and the successful design business they have built over the last 20 years.
