Picture of black mirrors in the gym with white vinyl lettering.

Blok Illuminated lettering, reflective vinyl, and bespoke wall plates

hospitality+leisure outdoor led wayfinding signs 3d vinyl project retail illuminated

The little touches

THE LOWDOWN

BLOK gym cofounder, Max Oppenheim first contacted us to find a creative way to add illuminated letters to a precast concrete monolith sign he’d erected outside the Hearn Street location in East London – a small project that laid solid foundations for an ongoing relationship.

BLOK is a gym like no other. With only two London branches at this stage, Max is carefully crafting his work out empire from natural finish materials: using tempered steel and brutalist blocks to create raw spaces asking to be filled with energy.

At the Shoreditch branch, the air is diffused with coloured LED lighting and the galleries are dotted with art pieces made of stone, with a tremendous amount of thought put into the way the place feels, and makes people feel. It should come as no surprise then that Max is an award winning fine art photographer and the artistry of this built environment is visible in every detail, including the signage.

Two white acrylic plaques with black lettering.

Picture of an Atlas made of concrete blocks.

A gym goer standing with crossed arm in the gym.

Black letters on white sliders create the menu list on the wall.

Black metal and natural wood stairs with vinyl lettering.

Acrylic illuminated letters against a grey concrete block.

The concrete block situated at the entrance of the gym and featuring illuminated letters.

THE SPECS

We were commissioned to add illuminated letters for Max’s monolith, and sometimes the tiniest tasks can be the trickiest! From a technical viewpoint, it can prove difficult to avoid getting ‘bright spots’ or ’spotting’ when adding illumination to something that’s so little in scale. With that in mind, we decided to embed opal acrylic letters with specially developed micro LEDs that don’t heat up, and therefore function very well in tight spaces, to achieve an even distribution of light.

The result is a sign that stands out whether it’s day or night. Max was so pleased with the high end spec that he asked us to turn our attention to other little details that could elevate the interior, without disrupting their client programmes.

With class schedules in mind, we set to work creating and installing custom signage for all the different zones at BLOK Shoreditch – starting with reflective vinyl lettering for the street facing windows and hashtag graphics for the studio mirrors.

Next up, we produced sliding letter squares for the retro cafe menu, acrylic wall plaques for the artworks in the corridors, and in house laser engraved plates made out of black anodised aluminium for the weight racks. Finally, we fitted the WCs with mirror graphics and bespoke poster frames for display on the doors.