Zazzle’s philosophy of manufacturing products per the buyer’s specifications could be viewed as a retailer’s variation on the kind of custom, client-driven design O+A practices. For that reason O+A’s design of Zazzle’s headquarters in Redwood City felt like a charmed project.
Zazzle’s philosophy of manufacturing products per the buyer’s specifications could be viewed as a retailer’s variation on the kind of custom, client-driven design O+A practices. For that reason O+A’s design of Zazzle’s headquarters in Redwood City felt like a charmed project.
City San Francisco, CA
Year 2012
Size 120,000 sq ft
Team Denise Cherry, Perry Stephney, Elizabeth Guerrero, Neil Bartley, Caren Currie, Jeorge Jordan, Will Chu, Justin Ackerman, Steven Gerten
Photographer Jasper Sanidad
Robert Beaver and his sons Jeff and Bobby built their company on the idea that everything people use should be a unique expression of who they are. O+A built its practice on the belief every detail of a design contributes to the story the client has to tell. As partners in creating Zazzle’s office, both participants started on the same page.
Here’s an example. When O+A presented the company with two options for the 4th floor break area—wallpaper or tile—Zazzle chose kiln-fired, hand-shaped, hand-glazed, hand-sanded tile produced locally by Heath Ceramics. That was also the designers’ choice.
Another example. Because the elevator shaft occupies a central position in Zazzle’s office, O+A saw an opportunity to turn a functional, often design-neutral necessity into one of the striking features of the space. Using the ancient Japanese technique of scorching wood to preserve it, O+A combined burned oak with unburned hickory to create an elevator shaft that looks like a mountain lodge in a Kurosawa movie.
In the customization of break areas and elevator shafts, poker rooms and phone rooms and yes, even doorknobs, O+A and Zazzle expressed in physical terms a core belief that drives both companies—that every product and every space, however modest, deserves the respect of good design.
