During their residency with Cardboard Box Company, Illuminos developed a highly personal project, delving into their own family history and taking inspiration from their Grandfather, Bob Peddie’s confectionery shop window.
Based in Accrington and an established Art in Manufacturing partner, having created ambitious work with resident artists since 2017, Cardboard Box Company were committed to authentically honouring designs from the archive, scanning and recreating elements of the original chocolate packaging from the shop at 191 Blackburn Road, Accrington.
Opened in 1950 with secret recipes from Bob Peddie’s friend, the Swiss Chocolatier Marius Matti, the shop brought moments of delight and magic to Accrington in a time of rationing and rebuilding – when a box of chocolates represented more and opening it was like opening a doorway to a world of delights and possibilities.
Together, Cardboard Box Company and Illuminos created an immersive retelling of the chocolate shop. The cardboard installation came to life through animation and projection mapping, like something from a fairy story. Audiences watched chocolate pour, nuts roll in icing, oranges being chopped and mint growing as flights of fancy erupted through the installation; a confection of wonders waiting to be discovered.
This has been a really personal project for us, revisiting our Grandad Bob Peddie’s chocolate shop, delving into the 1950s box designs, exploring the old recipe book, and bringing these elements together with the Cardboard Box Company. The team there really took on the idea of creating these new versions of chocolate boxes from the originals, and looking at how we can then incorporate projection mapping within and onto boxes.
The Artist
Illuminos are brothers Matt and Rob Vale, who, for over 10 years, have been creating visually inventive, memorable projection artworks and experiences. Works range from epic scale illumination to small scale interventions, but always working to create something unique and specific to location and viewer. Formed around a principal of People, Site, Animation, and often combining elements of installation, dance, theatre, pyrotechnics and music, each project that Illuminos approaches develops from an exploration of the emotions of an environment, aiming to capture the essence of a place, space or feeling as shared moments in time.
The Manufacturer
Shortlisted for The Telegraph ‘SME of the Year’ award and winner of the Community Engagement Award at the 2022 Paper Industry Gold Awards, Cardboard Box Company designs, prints and manufactures corrugated board for industrial and retail packaging solutions. Their state-of-the-art plant has seen fast growth in recent years through an incredible story of investment and invention. Whilst creating more than 50,000 design solutions for customers, the firm remains an inventive, creative and people-centric company, committed to the local area.
Photography by Jules Lister, Robin Zahler and Derren Lee Poole.
