Epoc Latest project wins

A Food 'Court' and Hotel in Berlin,
A 'Boutique' sports store in London,
A 'bar' for a global fashion retailer...

The 'Hello' view of Life

It is a shame this level of reality was not a more prevalent view in modern life.

Then perhaps we would all take the view that we need to just get on with it...!

We will not all be famous.
We will not all stay young and slim.
We will not all be premiership foootballers or lottery winners.
We will not all be wealthy or feature in 'Hello' Magazine.

We all need to work at a level befitting our skills, knowledge and abilities.

Be proud of what you can realistically do, Live your life and enjoy each minute.

'Photoshop' is a mask, not a reality and too many, spend too long, in the Media led world of fame fantasy.

Thought for today R4

Chin Chin Laboratories

London has finally got its first nitro icecream bar. They designed the interior of the new Chin Chin Laboratories’s nitro icecream bar in Camden.

As a key idea behind their work they developed a mad scientists lab environment, where preparation area, display cabinet and lightning devices are all inter-connected with a lot of playfulness.
No wire on the floor; everything goes trough the pipes seems to be one of the main very practical feature. Details amongst others, that I really liked, the cords of the swing have been partially un-woven and re-woven on themselves – there’s no knot!


The confectionning and preparation areas, cabinet and display are all hold together by the tubular structure.

The light bulbs are directly plugged on the structure.
even the drinks had that mad scientists feeling (kir royal in a pipette)


** Andrew Haythornthwaite and Shai Akram began their collaboration shortly after graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2006 on the Design Products course headed by Ron Arad. Their projects have taken them to China, New Zealand and now, back to the UK.
They presented their Fruit Fishing for FoodMarketo in Milan 2010; which is based on the scientific fact that apples float and pears don’t.

* Chin Chin Laboratories are located in Camden – the address is 49 Camden Lock Place.

Kentish Canteen

This Monday, 7th September, saw the opening of the new “Kentish Canteen” restaurant at 300 Kentish Town Road NW5.











Now it would be all too easy to slide into food critic mode and rave about this being a great place to pop in for a quick meal and a glass of wine. We could enthuse about the Head Chef, late of Vinoteca and his able Sous Chef who was previously Head Chef at the Acornhouse Restaurant. Oh and not forgetting the owners, Owen and Wendy, who already operate PJ’s Bar & Grill in Covent Garden and their passion for food. Then there’s the wine list put together by a friend of Wendy's who's a master of wine with his own vineyard in the South of France….

At this stage you’d probably be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled upon one of those restaurant review websites or suspect that we have some ulterior motive for promoting the place.

Well the truth is we do!

From the initial brand concept through to the design and implementation Epoc were immersed in this project. We were even responsible for locating the site on behalf of the owners!

So should you ever find yourself in the area and in need of refreshment we would certainly recommend a visit to Kentish Canteen and whilst you’re enjoying your meal take in the design as well. Should you then feel predisposed to find out more of what we do here at Epoc, simply walk around the corner from the restaurant and you’ll find our studio here in Leverton Place!

Did you see?

For those of you who saw the last episode of "Mary Queen of Shops" on Monday, 15th July featuring Lightwater Home Care, but just happened to miss the credits at the end, we thought we should mention that yes, it was EPOC that put together the new design and graphics for the store.

A special mention should also go to Denise Tisdale at Sign Specialists Ltd who did a magnificent job of pulling together all the new signage for the unit.

It's all about attitude!

Whilst most of us were fixed on England’s crucial game against Slovenia, down in SW19 two relatively unknown tennis players were locked in a gladiatorial battle of wills in what became the longest tennis match in history.

Suffice to say the stamina, courage and sheer dogged determination of these two players namely John Isner and Nicolas Mahut belies belief. Although it was highly unlikely that either player would ultimately progress to win the tournament it is testament to their character that their refusal to concede defeat was founded solely on the will to win rather than the promise of a hefty pay cheque. In fact for his part in this 11 hour epic, Mahut received just £11,250 in prize money.

That though is of little consequence as he will forever be remembered for his participation in what has been described as the greatest match of all time as well as his indefatigable attitude and graciousness even in defeat.

In stark contrast his fellow countrymen representing “Les Bleus” at the World Cup have been vilified in the French press both for their failure to progress from the group stages but more particularly for the farcical events off the field. This has even escalated to the political hierarchy prompting one Socialist to comment

"The atmosphere that prevails in the French team is one that Nicolas Sarkozy exults -- it's all about individualism, egotism, everyone for themselves, and the only way to judge human success is the cheque you get at the end of the month,"

Not that the England team have exactly covered themselves in glory. After two uninspiring performances against the USA and Algeria and the stories of divisions within the squad, a victory against a Slovenia team ranked 25th in the world should not convince us that we have suddenly been transformed into potential World Cup winners. But at least the team finally showed a sense of spirit and desire previously lacking.

Of course Sunday’s match against Germany will prove to be a far sterner test of our resolve with history very much against us.

Whilst the England players should certainly require no greater motivation than the opportunity to achieve a victory against our old adversaries, if they require any form of paradigm for all that is expected of them when they take to the pitch on Sunday they would do well to reflect on the performance of Isner and Mahut.

St George's Day

....and following the theme of today....

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;... Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!"

23rd April -St Georges day

Our patron saints day but not a public holiday yet- The campaign goes on and we support it not just bacause the 23rd of April is Eddies birthday and having him out of the office is a holiday for us all! Saint George is perhaps most famous for slaying a dragon. This is obviously a fictitious story and very little is known about the real St. George. The little we do know is as follows:

· Born in Turkey (either Anatolia or Cappadocia)
· Lived in 3rd century AD
· His parents were Christian
· Later lived in Palestine
· Became a Roman soldier
· Protested against Rome's persecution of Christians
· Imprisoned and tortured, but stayed true to his faith
· Beheaded at Nicomedia in Palestine

St. George is probably England's most successful immigrant. Born in a foreign land, welcomed by the English and has worked hard for over 800 years in his adopted country. He has integrated so well that he has come to symbolise the very essence of 'Englishness'. The story of St. George and the Dragon dates back to the Middle Ages when the dragon was commonly used to represent evil, so it's an excellent tale of good triumphing over evil. Since then St. George has been popularly identified with English ideals of charity, chivalry and courage (now known as the 3 C's)

St. George's worldwide fame

He is not only patron saint of England but also of…

· Bulgaria · Canada · Croatia, Senj · Ethiopia · Georgia · Germany, Haldern · Germany, Freiburg · Germany, Heide · Germany, Limburg · Gozo · Greece · Israel, Lod · Italy, Ferrara · Italy, Genoa

· Italy, Modica · Italy, Nerola · Italy, Riano · Lebanon, Beirut · Lithuania · Malta · Netherlands, Amersfoort · Palestine · Portugal · Russia, Moscow · Slovenia, Ptuj · Spain, Aragon · Spain, Catalonia · Turkey, Istanbul

He's also patron saint of soldiers, archers, cavalry and chivalry, farmers and field workers, riders and saddlers, and he helps those suffering from leprosy and plague. In recent years he has been adopted as patron saint of Scouts.