2023 Roundup
Does anyone else forget to stop and reflect on quite how much you've achieved, rather than how much further you have yet to go? This little 2023 roundup is as much for me as it is for anyone else. But I guess it also serves to share a bit of what we've been up to over the last year at Studio Elk. Thanks for your continued support — Tony
So we kicked off the year by moving into a new studio space. It was a move of necessity, but has turned into one of the biggest blessings of the year. Having a base to make our own in a creative environment has made a world of difference to our work, our mental state, and in my case restoring a bit of work-life balance that was missing last year.
We've been fortunate enough to stay busy throughout a year that by all accounts has not been kind to many businesses.
We continued our work with Panasonic Design London, helping them explore the future of the brand as it refocuses on holistic wellbeing and sustainable living. This year we've been able to hone and apply our circular economy expertise with a brand that has the potential to deliver impact at a massive scale.
We also had the opportunity to work with IKEA for the first time - an absolute dream client. Following a workshop at IKEA HQ in Älmhult, Sweden, we produced a series of concept designs to help them explore options within a new product category.
Dash Pestle & Mortar which we designed for Joseph Joseph a few years ago finally hit the market and is receiving fantastic customer reviews. It’s great to see it out in the world after Covid supply chain issues caused a bunch of delays.
A couple of other client projects continue in the background, one of which is the most comprehensive design project we've undertaken to date. We kicked off tooling recently and we're excited to be able to show you what we’ve been working on when it launches next year!
We also launched Koru, our circular economy concept that proposes WFH furniture as a B2B subscription service. The project was hugely important for us, looking to tell a story that went far beyond the design of the product itself. It pushed us to communicate the business model and service surrounding the product in order to ensure the message was received across the various platforms that have featured it over the last couple of months.
In between all of this, we've somehow found time to develop our internal processes to equip us to better deliver on our mission of helping brands design products that are measurably better for the planet.
We soft-launched our new Product Impact Audit and Greenwash-Free Storytelling offerings to support our core Sustainable Product Development services, aiming to address a broader range of the challenges our clients face in going beyond superficial sustainability.
We will be beta testing these new processes in the new year - if you're interested in hearing more or getting involved please reach out.
In close relation to our own process development, we’ve been supporting Carbon Sync - a start-up who are developing a Life Cycle Assessment tool specifically for industrial designers. In my advisory role, I have been tasked with steering the tool in a direction that meets the needs and challenges of designers looking to integrate LCA into the product development process. Given the huge ambition of the mission, the Carbon Sync team have put in a mammoth effort this year, resulting in a successful and enlightening beta testing phase.
We even revamped our entire website in a week, with refined messaging and a new look that better reflects where we’re at. Throw in a few workshops, uni talks, portfolio review sessions, industry events and conferences, and I'm very much ready for a break!
I want to end with a massive thank you to our clients for their trust, support and collaboration this year. Also to the Studio Elk team for continuing to blow me away with their talent and for believing wholeheartedly in our collective vision.
I’m looking forward to kicking things up a notch next year. In the meantime, Happy Holidays from the Studio Elk team!
