Loopo Studio talks to us about illustration and narration in architectural and graphic composition.

Lively, multifaceted and active. Loopo Studio is a creative office based in Thessaloniki but it’s also much more than just that. With projects that move between the realms of architectural and graphic design, the studio already counts 10 years of operation. The group's projects include posters for events and exhibitions, catalogs, zines, literary publications and architectural design. For graphic design work, the team uses text, illustration and often photography as tools, in a process of design composition that serves the idea of design as a storytelling tool. Their architectural projects, on the other hand, concern interior design for stores but also renovations/restorations of residences as well as participation in open competitions.

Regarding graphic design, the design of the visual identity of the PIK NIK Urban Festival 2019 stands out for us and it’s based on typographical and handwritten phrases, linear illustrations of objects that we take with us on a picnic as well as a small photo of the Roman Agora, where the festival takes place. Regarding architecture, we were undoubtedly intrigued by Prigipo, a jewelry store in Athens, where minimal lines and earthy colours imbue the space with an airy aesthetic. So, we asked the Loopo Studio team to tell us more about their design and the philosophy behind their projects.

Poster & programme illustration and design for the series of events titled “Women’s Works”. Thessaloniki Concert Hall, Match 2020

In the design of Prigipo the elegant hand-crafted wooden surfaces are dominant, something that you also choose in other architectural projects. What does wood offer to your design vocabulary? How did your preference for the handmade, which can also be seen in the graphics you design, come about?

An idea we are interested in is physical involvement in the design process. The body, just like the logical processes (thought, speech), is a means of expression, which also exercises its reflexes and can add further qualities. For example, it can enrich our understanding of materials. It can affix reactions to the design process that we could not predict by thinking alone. At the same time, by combining it with construction or with analogical design, the concept of the scale can perhaps be better understood. Finally, it equates and identifies the concept of thinkers & doers, aiming for a less hierarchical perception of the design process.

More specifically, concerning wood, and also all other natural materials such as marble, we, first of all, believe that it adds the dimension of time. These materials age beautifully because they do so naturally. In addition, the scale of crafting detail is organically integrated into the design. Behind these materials, there is a network of smaller workshops with deep knowledge of materials and techniques that significantly enrich the result of our own design.

Prigipo. Jewlery store design in Athens, 2021

For visual identity design, it looks like you're combining digital editing tools with the "traditional" linear design. How did this creative language come about?

One medium that our team has practised and incorporated into our design toolbox is illustration. Specifically, we start by putting on paper simple elements or objects that exist around us, initially with pen on paper, with a simple, literal and non-commentating intention, and this process often goes through digital design means to be functionally integrated into applications of graphic design. It may be reminiscent of the "traditional" line drawing but in fact, it does not arise from there so much as from the desire to have a pictorial "note" in the composition, something that could almost be replaced by a word. At the same time, the aesthetic of the handmade line gives us another material, a quality to add to the typography of the photo and build our composition.

Visual identity design for PIK NIK Urban Festival 2019. Thessaloniki, September 2019

It seems that in each of your works the aesthetic of the group does not differ from member to member. How have you managed to work as a team?

Our office works like a group of designers. The common academic element of all is our studies in universities of architecture. Beyond that, however, our references, manners, reflexes, and - more practically - the area in which each member focuses his research in the field of design, architecture or graphic design, differ as is natural. However, through our coexistence in the same space and in the same projects, we enlarge and shape together our design vocabulary. There are individual projects that talk to each other, sometimes more and sometimes less. The tasks undertaken by the office can be worked by one person or up to four people, depending on the needs.

Distinguished participation in the COCOON Architectural Competition. Greek Institute of Architects in New York [GIANY], 2016

It is not common in Greece for a creative agency to be so active and outgoing. What is the role of a creative team in relation to society for you and what do you aim for through actions like Loopo Kiosk?

We believe that design is a language of communication. We also believe that the reality of working contains - more or less - points of hardship that would be more useful for everyone if they were smoothed out. The city is the field in which we create, work and stand up for our ideals, and therefore it seems important to us to stay in touch, listen and also show what exactly it is that we do in our work. Our studio is the field where we explore the limits of design both as a creative process as well as a job. We find it helpful and often empowering to get to know other creative people or groups, especially when we're in such a small location, whenever that's really possible. Loopo Kiosk was established when we moved to a beautiful ground floor in Platonos. It's a pop-up shop that operates every Thursday and there you can find prints, paper constructions and design works by Loopo members. Design work can be quite lonely and keep us for several hours in front of the design tools so this is a way to break that routine a bit. However, it also gives us the possibility to share rejected design proposals or to start the process of making new works for the shop that no longer have a deadline or specific requirements and thus help us to practice ourselves freely in design.

We thank the Loopo Studio team!

loopostudio.com