The London-based practice has a rich, vibrant and distinctive portfolio, characterized by innovative approaches to type and colour and a constant sense of pushing their craft. Part of this, perhaps, is thanks to its niche in the art world; a space that the studio clearly not just fully understands, but adores. Louise Benson and I went to Praline’s new(ish) studio in north London—sited in a bonkers Crystal Maze-like construction designed by architect Amin Taha, where windows look like walls and doors are hidden—to meet the lovely small dachshund Aristotle, and have a chat with the studio’s founder David Tanguy.
Was it always the plan since you started out to work mostly with culture and arts clients?
That’s what interested me at the very beginning when I started Praline with a friend back in 2000. We’d just graduated from Saint Martins [in graphic design], and straight after college we started having small cultural projects coming to us. They were just through connections, someone organizing a small exhibition for instance, so those were the natural things we were being offered and the sort of work we were interested in. We started to build a portfolio of cultural projects, not knowing where that would lead.
A few years later it was just me at the studio, and I was working on record covers for the label Fantastic Plastic—lots of covers for Ikara Colt, the Futureheads and some other smaller bands—and I also