The phrase "welcome to the fold" is written in lightbox letters in the reception area of the new Clerkenwell, London, office of advertising agency Fold 7. Paul Crofts Studio included the tagline in their recent refurbishment of the space, to imbue it with the company's branding, and also to "make the place feel inviting," Crofts told Dezeen, translating "welcome to the fold" to "welcome to my home." In the three-story atrium at the heart of the split-level HQ, the message is more like: welcome to the kind of place where there are statues of people holding umbrellas suspended from the ceiling, as if they were floating through the air Mary Poppins-style.
The agency commissioned the hanging sculptures from Czech artist Michal Trpák, covering a rarely occupied square in the modern game of kooky office decor bingo. More common tiles that this space marks off include secret bookcase doors, cuckoo clocks on the walls, ping-pong tables that double as boardroom desks, and jokey signage ("smack my pitch up," a refrain from a 1997 song by The Prodigy given a possibly ill-conceived advertising-themed tweak).
Some have argued that it's time to move past the branded, exuberantly unserious school of office design. In this case, at least there's sunken seating, which is long overdue for a comeback.
· Paul Crofts Studio sinks seating areas into floor of London office [Dezeen]