On 1 January 2025, Studio Roderick Vos will step down as Art Director of Pode. "We taught our child to walk in eight years. Now Pode is grown up and it's time to let go for our next step." Art directors Claire and Roderick Vos have been guiding the visual identity of Leolux Furniture Group's colourful Pode brand since 2016. During that period, Pode grew into a leading brand not only in the Netherlands, but also far beyond. Both parties are ready for the next step. Claire and Roderick Vos are busy with new creative foreign projects: "As external art directors, we have given direction to Pode with great dedication," they explain. "We are always looking for new design adventures and it is becoming increasingly difficult to combine the development of Pode with these."
Claire and Roderick Vos. Photo: Benning Gladkova.
Creation and growth of a new brand
The Leolux Furniture Group launched a simple, colourful design series for the Dutch market at the Woonbeurs in Amsterdam in 2008. The Pode collection, with only sofas, achieves nice sales but lacks its own identity to gain a real position in the Dutch market. Nevertheless, Leolux sees room in the market for a new young brand. That is only possible, it concludes, with dedicated external art directors ensuring that Pode gets its own distinctive face. "An exciting decision," states Leolux director Sebastiaan Sanders, "because brand identity is the heart of your company, you really entrust a piece of yourself to others." That mutual trust is found at Studio Roderick Vos. They have the ideas, enthusiasm and energy to build a unique design brand together with the Leolux team.
Grand launch
In 2016, Claire and Roderick Vos are officially appointed by Sanders as art directors for the Pode brand. The collection will be scrutinised, thinned out and supplemented with new designs and materials. The revamped Pode will have a grand introduction, at Villa Jongerius in Utrecht. In order to continuously provide the collection with new impulses, Studio Roderick Vos establishes contacts with young designers. The art directors themselves also contribute; as product designers, Roderick puts down signature Pode designs such as Fold, Bibo and Tweak, while Claire takes care of the soft side, focusing on elegant rugs and cushions. In addition, Claire was responsible for the image of the Pode magazine, trade fair presentations and stand design. In doing so, Studio Roderick Vos ensures coherence: colours and materials form a unique whole, which makes combining within Pode's collection easier than with many other design brands produced to order.
International cooperation
Pode looks far beyond national borders, with a dealer network stretching across Europe and far beyond. And Pode also dares to choose in its collaboration with often young designers: the collection includes models by talented international designers such as Yonoh (Valencia), Meike Harde (Cologne) and Federica Biasi (Milan).
From the very first moment, the art directors worked closely with photographer Arjan Benning / Benning-Gladkova. Surrealistic decors, inspired by artists such as Edward Hopper, give Pode a completely unique look. Innovation is not avoided, as photography is effortlessly combined with the latest visualisation techniques, and the computer animations on the homepage of the Pode website stand out. There too, Pode is ready for the future.
Crowning glory
What is still missing for the first few years is a truly dedicated site to showcase the brand to consumers as well. The Pode brand can be found at around 100 home furnishing shops in the Netherlands, but in a place of their own, the art directors can really show how they mean the brand. That dream came true at the end of 2022, when the Leolux Experience Center opens its doors in Breukelen. Here, Pode presented its complete collection, among atmospheric art and soft textile walls.
The Pode brand has found its visual identity in all areas, from catalogue and website to social media and showroom. Just as important: Pode is a commercial success. Sales have doubled every four years since 2014. "I love winning competitions," says Roderick Vos, "I don't do that alone, of course, but together with the fantastic team at Leolux."
More information:
Pode
077-3877222
[email protected]
www.pode.eu
The Netherlands
'We taught our child to walk in 8 years'