The design and style of objects has always been attractive both physically and emotionally.  I have fond memories of taking trips into the attic of my Great-Grandparents home to find a wonderland of beautifully printed cardboard boxes filled with an array of other objects inside.  Everything was reused and kept for its tactile or aesthetic value or because of its function.

 

For me, this archival notion stayed close to heart.

 

Archival items have longevity and style, from the thick cardboard archival film boxes that Kubrick stored reels of film in to the shallow Kodak cardboard boxes for photographic paper sealed with expiry label stickers.

 

Often when an object is removed from the period that it was created in, it epitomises a moment in time.  Home magazines from the 50’s become fascinating objects worthy of museum status, of particular interest are the pages of classically stylised advertisements.  There is beauty in the grain of the paper to the way the ink falls on the page.

 

Products act as symbols of who we are and how we chose to live our life.

 

The packaging at YOKO tries in some way to emulate this same notion; boxes that can be kept and reused for decades after their original purpose.  We curate a mix of readily available everyday packaging with bespoke containers to last.

 

For us, style is used over fashion any day.  Style is to last – it reinterprets the past and maintains its significance in both present and future, whereas fashion is quick and of the moment only.  It is important we understand that the design of products have the capacity to withstand changing needs of time whilst leaving room for reinterpretation and new purpose.

 

It is our hope that the YOKO labels will remain on the gift boxes as markers of what once was, a memory of the objects initial use.