Shrewsbury design company win international awards

Shrewsbury design company, f.r.a. has won a prestigious international award that celebrates both British and International design with their work for Borough Yards, a new development of shops, restaurants, cafes, cinema, and workspaces, in the medieval heart London’s Southwark.

The design studio picked up the winning FX Design Award trophy for graphics and wayfinding (the process of helping people to find what they’re looking for) in front of 1,000 guests at the Grosvenor Hotel in London’s Park Lane last week.  The judges commented that it was “A beautiful implementation of a fitting design solution, showing how wayfinding, experiential graphics and art can work together to create true placemaking.”

f.r.a. directors Wesley Meyer, Jamie Trippier and Rachel Trippier collected the award. “we are so proud to have been recognised for our work which celebrates design from all over the world and huge thanks goes to the whole f.r.a. team, our client MARK, and the architects SPPARC. It has been a wonderful project to collaborate on and we’ve enjoyed injecting a bit of wit and joy into the fabric of Borough Yards, which seem to have put a real smile on people’s faces, our intention all along.”

Adding to their awards cabinet for Borough Yards, f.r.a. designers Shane Smith and Danielle Lessio picked up Silver at the Better Future - London Design Awards last night (6th December).

The award-winning work for Borough Yards

f.r.a. set out to blur the lines of wayfinding, storytelling, and art. “The approach to the design was to melt the site back into the fabric of Southwark. Each of the five entrances are treated as individual experiences which express the site’s rich history and contemporary lifestyle with an added touch of the neighbourhood’s signature wit and grit”. Says f.r.a.’s creative director, Wesley Meyer.

At the main entrance to Borough Yards, visitors are greeted by a large 7m x 5.6m work of neon art wrapped across two walls. This ‘clock’ recounts the diverse characters who historically called Southwark home, from judges and Lords to revellers and pickpockets. This complex artwork hosts one hundred and thirteen neon words, two hundred and thirteen metres of glass, and two hundred and twenty cables to power the installation. “It’s a bold and intriguing Instagram moment for visitors”, said f.r.a.’s project director, Jamie Trippier.

Several smaller ‘hidden’ designs can be discovered and shared over time. These included reusing some existing industrial brackets on site to become whimsical ‘gargoyles’; a sign featuring an actual human tooth, one of the project managers’ bikes being put 3 metres in the air to indicate where to park your bike, a playful interactive bike bell wall and a very obscure ‘The Simpsons’ reference.