FUNKO ANIMATION STUDIOS

Seven Dials

Bath

Funko is one of the worlds leading designers and manufacturers of licensed pop culture collectibles. Having established a new UK based animation studio in the centre of Bath the company wanted to give their new space a greater presence on the street. This included the reworking of an existing shopfront, a reception and entrance, and the design of a gallery to showcase their creative output.

The design we developed aimed to marry the companies brand identity with the historic location of Bath. We focused on the notion that the gallery space should present models, drawings and animations as curated pieces of work or ‘objects of desire’. The analogy of a ‘jewellery box’ was used to explore ideas about how models and images might be displayed to create a sense of drama and intrigue; using light and shade to emphasize form, colour and texture.

Through a series of sketch studies we looked at ways in which the company’s logo and designs could be transformed and re-appropriated to create ornamental design features reminiscent of motifs commonly found in classical architecture e.g egg and dart. We then used relief, detail and ornamentation in the façade design to integrate the proposals into the Georgian context.