What's not to love about a company that is hip, energetic, baby-friendly and names itself based in part on its fondness for our furry four-legged best friends?
The award-winning design company Pao and Paws, based in Taipei, London, New York and Tokyo, has just put out the 3rd edition of Ppaper, which is currently on sale at 7-11. Only NT$49 per edition, the magazine's blend of fashion, style and advertising showcases good graphic design at incredibly affordable prices.
It is a project such as this that shows the innovativeness and pioneering spirit of the creative company. Instead of producing a highly priced fashion magazine for an extremely competitive and saturated market, they rethought the concept.
At first, one wouldn't associate a place to buy a copy of the day's paper and cheap snacks with a place to pick up a good design magazine, but these strange juxtapositions seem to make sense.
Founded in 1998 by the husband-and-wife design team Imin Pao (
PP Design provides graphic design running the gamut from print to packaging, to exhibition design to Web design for high-end corporate clients such as Nike, Toshiba, Citibank and MTV Asia.
PP Books publishes art and design books. So far, about a dozen books are available worldwide, including Wake Up and Smell Your Feet, a book of postcards; Dumb Luck: The Idiotic Genius of Gary Baseman, a collection of illustrations by the well-known California-based artist who also designed plastic toy figures for a recent children's festival in Ilan; Your Flyer Is Open, a collection of NYC flyers; and Fun, Fun, Fun, Craig Robinson's illustration book of pixilated figures. Robinson also did a David Tao music video.
Tomato, If You Like was the culmination of a 10-day workshop in Japan led by the renowned British design group Tomato, and included ruminations about life, art and design.
PPgallery acts as a talent agency in which Pao and Paws set up collaborations between artists, photographers and other people.
The maternity clothes line Ive and Sean aims to provide beautiful clothes that emphasize comfort without looking frumpy. The brand is popular in Japan and can be purchased online at www.ivesean.com.
Pao was ranked seventh in 2001 in a round-up of international art directors by Archive magazine. Pao had been art director for Wieden & Kennedy, in Portland, Oregon, and later creative director for J. Walter Thompson, Taiwan and for Leo Burnett, Taiwan before opening Pao & Paws with Hu. Hu is also the president and creator of Ive & Sean.
In addition to creating design, Pao teaches design classes that are open to the general public. To learn more about typography, the fundamental principles of design and how to put your creative talents to good use, contact the company and sign up for a class.
For more information: Contact Pao and Paws at pao@paopaws.com, or check www.paopaws.com
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