The Grey brigade

Spatial design

The new office interior for Gummo advertising agency in Amsterdam designed by i29 interior architects takes the idea of corporate colours and recycling to a whole new level.

By Jeanne Tan / 04-03-2009

At first sight, the monotone feel of this interior resembles a backdrop from a surreal dream where everything appears in the same flat colour.

Upon closer inspection, it's actually the office of an Amsterdam advertising agency Gummo, known for their no-nonsense, uncomplicated work with a twist of humour.

Designed by i29 interior architects, the office for Gummo is a temporary space located in the old Parool newspaper building. For this short-term occupation of two years, i29 convinced Gummo to embrace the mantra of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ to create a quirky office space that would create minimal impact on the environment and their wallets. The designers developed a theme that reflected Gummo’s personality and design philosophy. Everything in the office was conformed to the new house style of white and grey. Furniture and decorations sourced from existing stock, second hand and charity shops, and Marktplaats (the Dutch eBay) was then spray painted grey with polyurea Hotspray (an environmentally friendly paint) to give that monotone look - even a bust of Jesus and an prehistoric Apple computer had no immunity to the new colour scheme.

Photography: i29 interior architects