We're loving Woodlabo’s vintage space look

To celebrate the launch of the Apollo 8 Command Module Lamps in our Shop, we reached out to designer Gaël Wuithier and his Bordeaux-based company Woodlabo  to get the story behind his stellar designs and the company’s beyond delightful brand identity.

Just check out this homepage:

Intriguing, no? I mean, what’s with all these awesomely vintage space exploration references? Here’s what Gaël had to say….

WC: How did your love of ‘60s-era space exploration evolve to become the company Woodlabo?

GW: Woodlabo was launched five years ago in Finland as a carpentry business specializing in interior planning. During the first years, we were like a research laboratory, questioning and discovering the design and art worlds. Early space exploration is one of the most beautiful and moving eras of our past. These men and women surpassed expectations to achieve the impossible; it’s amazing! For us, it felt useful to reexamine and absorb the values of this period. It was time that made the whole world dream.

WC: Your branding and website are so great! Who did you work with to develop this identity, and what was the process like?

GW: The thread was NASA during the 1960s. For a few months, branding agency Studio Dada and I studied all sorts of books, videos, and documents depicting the conquest of space. I wanted to be authentic in every detail, from our text and tone to the site menu, which riffs on a spatial dashboard. Working  photographer Alfred Cromback, we staged photos with a blue background to match the vintage images, especially a series of astronaut portraits from the Gemini mission. Our packaging includes a serigraphed wooden box labeled “Made in Earth” that pays homage to a world that at one time dreamed together—reminding us that we can go further together today.

WC: Do you have plans to expand your product offering? More space-inspired works? What’s next for you?

GW: Our challenge now is to reconstitute the Apollo mission’s Saturn V rocket to create new luminaires modeled on the parts and details. In parallel, I wish to launch other thematic projects—for example, concepts relating to the beginning of aviation. My multitalented team and I want to go into the unknown—like the astronauts, engineers, and designers of the Space Age who continue to inspire our work.