Studio.Build

Every Day Plaey

May 4, 2020

Good things come in 3's (and 4's, 5's & 6's).

Pre-Pandemic I (Michael) went for a drink with Matt (the man behind Plaey Workshop) in one of the local pubs (remember them?) here in Otley. As well as designing the identity for Plaey we try and help Matt wherever we can in terms of his business and the strategy for the future. He's a lovely guy, very talented. We like Matt. One of the things we have talked together about for a very long time is Plaey products. A lot of what Matt does is commission-based, which he loves doing. But products is something we discussed as a long-term plan for his business. You know, set some goals and go for it.

So, we were in the pub (the Black Horse, very good pub, great pies, great chips) chatting and we talked through some ideas for products. I'm a big fan of rules and restrictions, I see those as a positive rather than a negative. Setting some rules makes for interesting work.

We wanted to think of a range of objects/furniture based around threes. For example, only use 3 pieces. One of the pieces would be a coloured material, the rest would be ply. Three size objects, Small, Medium & Large. The objects would be flat-packed and assembled by the person who bought it.

It turns out making things from just three pieces is quite hard! So we expanded it to six. And today Matt launches his 'Everyday Plaey' range! The first in the range is The Everyday Stool, Bench & Magazine Rack.

We designed a simple graphic system for the range (see above) that sits comfortable with the master-brand. We wrote some simple copy around the idea of the range too.

We have said to our clients after this all kicked off that let's work together to come out of this stronger. By working together, helping each other we can come out of this stronger.

We are looking forward to the day we both are sitting on an Everyday Stool (which you can buy here) and having a beer together. Just think of that? We can all dream, right?

Photography by Alex Fisher