Joyeux Noël

This year we decided it was time for a 'flocking' good festive season.
All the best from the Grosz Co. Lab team.

Elkha - the first Co. Lab

Elkha, along with being Grosz Co. Lab Director Laura Camilleri's fashion label, was also the first 'Co. Lab' between Ben and Laura that sparked the beginnings of Grosz Co. Lab.

Having control of all branding and art direction for Elkha from the beginning has meant that the integrity of the brand has been maintained whilst also allowing it to evolve effectively as the label has grown over a number of years and incorporated new elements such as a Made to Measure and Menswear line.

Having such a close relationship to the garments has meant that Laura's art direction of the Elkha photography is always strongly informed by concepts and imagery that make up her inspiration for each range.

Spring/Summer 2007/08

Autumn/Winter 2006

When first starting the label Laura was determined that the Elkha brand needed to be something which represented the tactility of the garments along with her family background in European design and tailoring. She knew the person to help bring this to fruition was Ben Grosz. It took many long conversations and sketching sessions over many strong coffees (and a few glasses of wine) to develop the logo and refine the use of the embossing element, but once the finished product was in hand it felt well worth the careful consideration.


The impact of the logo and the embossed business card was only truly realised when suddenly multiple emails a day from across the globe came flooding through requesting Elkha business cards for collections and details of the design and print process, along with more information about the label in general. It was then discovered that this was all sparked by an image of the business card that had found its way online and that we still have no idea who shot and how it got out there (please feel free to drop us a line if you happen to be said mystery person....).

To this day, years after the first print run, requests regarding the card are still made daily. A big statement for the worth of investing in high quality, memorable print!

The mystery image...

For more Elkha related images from past seasons etc. feel free to check out www.groszcolab.com.au/elkha or visit www.elkha.com.au

* Photography for the 10/11 Winter range pictured above was shot by Emma Clohesy and the beautiful deer mask was created by Carrie Rouillard at Sans Souci Studios in the U.S

It's the future now.... yesterday.

The Grosz Co. Lab site has gone live this week - finally. We had to light a bonfire under our respective asses to get it up .... busy doing other people's identities!
A very big thanks to Nick at Walker Multimedia who was happy to patiently move things down 4px and right 7px on our behalf.

If you'd like to check it out head to www.groszcolab.com.au

Support Scent

It's not very often that a product really makes you feel all warm inside, but this concept is genius really - we were grinning from ear to ear when we found out about it.....

Being a studio that is passionate about braille and tactile signage, we were so excited to hear about the brilliant Support Scent concept that was developed by Guide Dogs Victoria in collaboration with Kit Cosmetics, and with packaging design by the talented Beci Orphin.

Support Scent breaks down the traditional barriers of visually reliant forms of support such as ribbons and wristbands by creating a fragrance that can be purchased and worn to show support for the vision impaired community and raise awareness and funds for Guide Dogs Australia. And it smells good too! A unisex scent that has been developed in France with floral and fruit notes yet with a fairly woody base*

Not only do the funds raised go to support Guide Dogs Australia, but even more importantly, every time you wear this scent you are communicating your support in an accessible way to blind and vision impaired people. A Braille letter has been scented and sent to blind and vision impaired people so as they can recognise the scent if they smell it out in the community and thus recognise your support. Now blind and vision impaired people are not simply told that that the community supports them, now they can sense support first hand - possibly for the first time ever.

As we said before - GENIUS!

And.... a vial only costs $5 online or from Kit stores. Buy one for yourself, your friends and family and support not only a great cause but a great idea!

Find out more at www.supportscent.com

* (apologies, we're sure Luca Turin could articulate it far better than we can .....)

Hilary Crampton Identity Design

In memory of our dear friend Hilary.

The design of this identity for one of Australia's most respected Arts Writers, Hilary Crampton, was an honour and a joy to collaborate on. We love creating work for the Arts and this was no exception.

The calligraphic typography that we created captures a sense of movement, illustrating Hilary's passion and incredible contribution to Dance. Whilst the use of black on white referenced her highly regarded written work in 'The Age' and various Arts publications.

We chose to print Gloss black foil and PMS Black on Concept Vellum stock to give the identity an increased level of tactility.


Hilary and her contribution to our Arts community is sadly missed.
For more about Hilary and her work visit:
"http://www.ausdance.org.au/tributes/Hilary_Crampton

HIGH FANGS

Running with the Melbourne Music Scene posting of last week, we've decided to post up some of our creative work for Melbourne Garage/Rock/Pop/Carport band 'High Fangs'.

Being an independent band releasing their first EP - a bold, cost effective, handmade approach for the limited run discs was decided upon with the focus being the logo Ben had originally developed for the band. The CD covers & T-Shirts were all hand screen printed with the High Fangs members getting involved in printing, scoring, folding and numbering all EP's in the studio with us!


The range of posters designed for High fangs gigs can be viewed at http://www.gigposters.com/designer/65398_Ben_Grosz.html but we've posted a few here for you as well.

SLAM Rally in Melbourne

Well the Grosz Co. Lab team have just come back from the SLAM rally this afternoon, which for those of you that may not know, was a rally to maintain what is left of Melbourne's integral live music scene that has been under threat from unfair liquor licensing acts. Tens of thousands of Melbournians, passionate about all types of music, rallied together to protect and empower small live music venues and the communities that live for them.

As a collective that not only designs for local Melbourne music, but one which is also made up of passionate musicians and punters alike, the state of local music is a concern near and dear to our hearts. Although an issue which has been brewing for many years, the closing of Melbourne music institution (and our local) 'The Tote' was the recent impetus for the banding together of the Melbourne music community that eventuated in today's protest.

We hope that not only will the State Labour Government's future approach to liquor licensing for be more relevant and fair, but also that today's collective community energy will translate into a resurgence of punters going to more gigs.

Oh the delight of seeing a group of Liberal members holding their banners in support of live music!! Where on earth have you been all this time??? Oh right, you've always been fighting the good fight - we can tell by the way you were 'dancing' (somewhat off tempo) on the steps of parliament - nothing to do with it being an election year of course........


The delightful Rachel from 'Lowbrow Events' - always in support and promotion of the Melbourne music and underground arts scene.

A super family friendly rally, there were plenty of kids doing their bit for their future music scene.

Let us introduce ourselves....in print!

Of course designing our studio's own stationery was always going to be one of the hardest briefs to work with. We've known of a few colleagues that have made the choice to hand over the design of their own ID to other studios but we relished the labour of love that was designing our own ID.

We were determined to create something that was representative of the strong collaborative focus we have - not only within the studio, but also with our greatly valued suppliers and print specialists. The incorporation of Embossing & Letter Engraving (thanks to the brilliant Dave at The Engraved Printing Co. in Melbourne) and Laser Cutting (Peter at Blazze in Sydney) meant that constant discussion and experimentation were at the heart of this project being a success.

Ever keen to make a bit of a mess of the studio and get our own hands dirty, the posters that housed our folio CD were all hand screen printed in house.