Constructive Lives

2008 — Identity / Retail / Interiors

Constructive Lives was a West London shop selling furniture and interior accessories. Initially approached to design just the visual identity, we proposed to the owners that we take on the entire art direction of the shop including the interior design and fit-out, the external cladding and all the printed and online requirements.

Our concept was led very much by the shop’s location on Portobello road — an area with a diverse cultural community and strong and vibrant visual identity, the shop premises which had a large external wall, and the owners mixed Irish, African and West Indian heritage.

Taking the geometric wall murals of the Ndebele community of South Africa as a starting point we created our own contemporary version in ceramic tiles for the large exterior wall of the shop. With the pattern itself being so striking, the typographic element of the identity had to be quite understated so as not to clash.