Our Interiors team now Eurosafe

Out key interiors team have just completed health and safety
accreditation and Del, Kate Phil and Paul are now the proud owners
of CSCS cards!

Said Phil, I have never been so taxed by an exam since I passed my driving
test in 1924

Sláinte!

Well I guess we just couldn’t let the day pass without wishing our Irish cousins Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!
Blessed with the name McAtominey and know to partake of a beverage or three… it’s not perhaps surprising that we are sometimes confused with our little leprechaun friends
However, that is where the similarity ends as legend tells us that leprechauns are always grumpy, untrustworthy and very tricky. Leprechauns are also believed to be little old men who make shoes for fairies and are usually about two feet tall!
So you’ll find us a lot less elusive, pretty chipper and straightforward and although we're not particularly renowned for our cobbling skills we’d like to
think that we could certainly do a decent job of taking the shoes to market.

Sláinte!

Good Gnome, Bad Gnome

Noticeable by their absence you may have been wondering what had become of our little gnomes…

Well worry not they are still alive and well and, it would seem, have been doing a bit of beer promotion over in Belgium…

Our research has found that in the Walloon dialect (a district of Belgium) the word Chouffe means Gnome and the Brasserie d'Achouffe have adopted the gnomes for the labels on their range of beers, a play on the town name Achouffe.

Clearly the image of the jolly little industrious gnome is viewed as a particularly positive and fun way in which to promote their beers. This has even generated a fan based web following usually involving strange looking folk with red hats. Nonetheless it continues to popularise the Chouffe brand and broaden its market.
Now this contrasts markedly with that particularly negative and somewhat disparaging description of the Swiss banking industry as “The gnomes of Zurich".
An expression coined originally by Labour politician George Brown in November in 1964 and more recently reported again in the media in light of the global financial crisis amidst the role of the bankers as the “inventors” of apparently miraculous new products like derivatives or sub-prime loan packages, they are viewed like those medieval gnomes conjuring gold.
These gnomes emerged from medieval fascination with the secrets of wealth, especially gold, buried underground and mined by mysterious beings
The literary types amongst us will, of course, recognize this from Goethe’s classic Faust the epic tale of ambiguous characters creating wealth which others, depending on their morals, use for good or evil….

Deputation of Gnomes – to Great Pan
When the treasure rich and shining,
Winds through clefts its thread-like way
And naught but the rod's divining
Can its labyrinths display,
Troglodytes in caverns spacious,
Under vaulted roofs we bide,
While in day's pure air thou, gracious,
All the treasures dost divide.
We discover here quite near us
Treasure rich, a fountain vein,
Aptly promising to bear us
More than one could hope to gain.
This thou mayst achieve at pleasure,
Take it, Sire, into thy care!
In thy hands doth every treasure
Yield the whole world blessings rare

So good gnome, bad gnome? It’s all down to marketing!

Vic Kass joins epoc

Another good looking chap has joined the epoc team.

Kracker Founder and former Met studio and Fitch director
Vic Kass has joined epoc as a director adding considerably to our
retail design and branding capabilities.

As well as bringing some further weight (literally) to the
board of Directors.

Scrambled Eds anyone

Scrambled Eds anyone..

So could this be the latest Toon army black and white dress code. Suspect somehow there will be a few choruses of 'Blaydon Races' later in the evening.

But good to see young Eddie had the sense to line his stomach before heading off to the Retail Award this evening! Just hope he doesn't end up with egg on his face!

PS Nice to see Lloyds Pharmacy win an award

The New New Geek

..Thanks to St Lukes


Geeks are not what they used to be.
They're COOL now! You have to thank
the Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lees,
Steve Jobs of this world for that.

They used to look like this:






Now, they look like this:

The new era has brought with it this new generation of cool geeks that have become a major driving
force for innovation in the world of design.

SORRY DEL!

PS can you have a look at my laptop dont seem to be able to get on the server!

PLEASE DEL - IT WAS ONLY A JOKE !
.

5'O Clock shadow boxers

Just a great image
and a great band name
for new style rap artists.


5'O clock Shadow boxers

Great new Parisian Patisserie

The Patisserie des Rives in Paris
has an unusual take on the display
of those yummy deli delights!

Bell jars lights on long suspension
cords -Looks great and practical what
with all those sniffling British
visitors!

The BBC one of the last creative Greats of Britain

The Guardian Reports

The BBC seems determined to keep making the same mistake. After Value for Money and the axing of thousands of jobs, after Creative Futures and even more jobs, now we have the third great corporation declaration, Putting Quality First. What else have we ever done, other than in the atrocious fields of management and leadership, where we continue to be a great case of quantity over quality? Similarly the BBC Trust, ever eager to do the dirty work of the commercial sector and act at the behest of the BBC's enemies in restricting our services, follows its destruction of BBC Jam and BBC local video with Switch and Blast, two keenly rewarding innovations for young audiences and creative talents. The restrictions on the websites, local radio evening broadcasting, Radio 2's music (presumably the Trust cannot compute the thought of a truly popular BBC service, and leaving well alone) the Asian Network and 6 Music are truly devastating news for BBC staff and audiences. My members are right to ask questions about the competency and efficacy of an executive which is only interested in slashing jobs to kowtow to Tory politicians, while maintaining disgraceful levels of remuneration for the henchcrew; and of a system of governance which places the nakedly anti-BBC Trust at the head of a ridiculous structure. The sooner it's abolished and a proper board put in charge of the BBC, the better. While there's still a BBC to govern. Mark Scrimshaw

With the revenue from the TV licence delivering about £3.5bn a year to the BBC, with which it does such a lot of good TV, radio and internet stuff, why is BSkyB worried when it generates over £5bn a year? In contrast with the BBC's rich output, BSkyB's business is trivial: pay more to the footballers, run a crummy website and buy in US drama to pack the schedules. The BBC seems far more productive. Tim Brook

In the UK we seem to be hell bent in destroying everything we have that is successful (albeit subsidised and not without fault and waste like any large business).

The BBC is Globally acknowledged as a centre of creative excellence which has long fed the commercial and independent sectors with both talent and ideas.

The fact that certain presenters are paid beyond the means of the business, like premiership footballers will inevitably be resolved by market pressures.

Lets not let it go the way of so many other greats and be asset stripped and carved up for the sake of short term political and commercial gain!

Writing on the blog

"So can I have permission then,

To write on the blog, I mean

Go on!

Can I?

OK I promise!"

Angry Handbags

As we are currently working on a branding project for a major international handbag wholesaler... we know the anger this subject can instill.

These designs from a young Turkish creative Censu Cender take the personality of the product to new heights.

They would certainly stop me rummaging for a ringing phone without permission!

Epoc working with Optomen TV and Yellowdoor

The BBC filmed part of the third series of the popular 'Mary Queen of Shops' at the Totally shows on Monday. Presenter and retail guru Mary Portas was on hand to take staff from the latest featured retailer, Lightwater Homecare, through their paces. Lightwater Homecare owner Tony Leach and Jane Curtis, who works at the shop and had never visited a trade exhibition before, were given the chance to look around the shows and check out the new products on stand.

They were spotted with Mary in tow, looking at the latest offerings from Faithfull Tools. The pair was then thrown in at the deep end when it was announced that they would each give a product demo to a packed demonstration theatre at the show. Both had to give a 10-minute presentation on the Irwin Quick Grip - a product that Ms Curtis knew nothing about before the day. Luckily, Nigel Blow, product manager from Toolbank was available to run them through the clamp's features before they had to take to the stage.

The first series of Mary Queen of Shops saw Ms Portas help turn around struggling clothing stores on the high street. However, for the latest series of the programme, she is turning her attention away from fashion retailers and is now focusing upon the non-fashion independent retail sector, including hardware stores, DIY retailers, cookshops and garden centres.

DIY and general store Lightwater Homecare is based in Guildford Rd, Lightwater, Surrey. The show will be screened on BBC2 this summer.

The Designers Fashion Designer

Marithe and Francois Girbaud : This is a Crazy World Campaign

One of our favourite fashion design houses.

A husband and wife team who have been going strong since the sixties.

As usual a great collection and a fantastic attention grabbing piece of advertising