Tokyo Blog

There seems to have been a lot of ‘the end of an era’ scenarios recently, and this one is definitely no exception. Easily one of the most well-established graphic design companies in the UK, and possibly one of the most well known around the world, TDR was highly influential from as far back as the early 90’s, and particularly close to my heart due to their association with the independent UK record label, Warp Records - home of Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Mira Calix, Plaid, and of course Warp Films. They closed their doors on Tuesday, but there are rumours of a return from some of the founding members. Apparently, the studio had started down the classic agency model route, with account handlers and such, in order to facilitate the acquisition of big contracts like Coca-Cola. This is miles away from the original manifesto of TDR, which was to be a rebel faction within the design industry, and to shun the usual conventions followed by the big design companies in order to offer some kind of alternative angle. The insolvency was due to business bad luck with debtors and tax complications leading to the collapse. I’m interested to see what happens next.