Creative Space is a place where creative people can meet, exchange ideas and be innovative. It is also a way of impacting The Absolut Company's work with sustainable and innovative solutions. We got the opportunity to help develop the concept of the project, and together we worked on a conceptual design that derived from The Absolut Company's ability to constantly reinvent and renew its brand. The working-hub Creative Space, also developed from the concept of reinventing, remaking and reusing, is a place where knowledge and invention, not money, is hard currency. A creative concept that can help reduce environmental impact, save money and energy, encourage creative thinking and innovative solutions.
The design process started as an inventory of The Absolut Company's existing resources. At the different production facilities in Åhus we were guided trough the entire production; witnessing the process from grain to the final product inside the iconic bottle. One of the main reasons of our visit was to localize waste products possible to utilize in our design of Creative Space. This turned out to be a more difficult task than we initially thought, since the production of The Absolut Company was very streamlined and waste products were few and already well taken care of. Nonetheless a few products were found and have been incorporated into Creative Space; cardboard boxes and cardboard tubes (used in the production) are re-used as seating and decoration, caps are re-made as magnets and the iconic bottle is re-invented in different lighting installations.
The layout of Creative Space consists of four 40” containers and a connecting outer landscape, all inspired by the production and the products of Absolut. Our idea was to create different workspaces (inside and around the containers) that enable and inspire different type of tasks. Creative Space consists of the five zones: the BAR, the DISTILLERY, the WORKSHOP, the BOTTLERY and the LANDSCAPE.
The BAR is a room inspired by the end product, a place intended for the casual encounter and relaxation; here one can drink a cup of coffee, meet ones fellow creator or be inspired by the insides of books and magazines.
The design of the DISTILLERY derives from the distillation process characterized by basic cylinder shapes and cleanness. The room is a tabula rasa - where one can brainstorm and where ideas can be distilled.