Island Records and EMI have unveiled their redesigned shared headquarters in King’s Cross, bringing together more than 70 artworks, photographs and pieces of music history in a space conceived somewhere between an office, gallery and concept store.
The new headquarters at Pancras Square follows an 18-month collaboration between design practice Interesting Projects and Studio Eye, the record labels’ in-house creative studio. Rather than approaching the project as a conventional corporate interior, the teams have used art, design and archive material to tell the intertwined stories of two labels that have helped shape popular music.
Works by Annie Leibovitz, Thierry Noir, Jeremy Deller, Corbin Shaw and Anton Corbijn sit throughout the building alongside photography, ephemera and newly commissioned pieces.
There is plenty of history to work with. Founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica in 1959, Island Records developed an identity closely associated with counterculture and the international movement of music and ideas. EMI was established in London in 1931 and became home to some of the defining names in British popular music.
Between them, the labels’ histories encompass artists including Bob Marley, The Beatles, U2, Grace Jones, Elton John, Taylor Swift and Amy Winehouse, alongside a new generation that includes Lola Young.
That history has been translated into the architecture rather than simply hung on its walls.
Island’s signature Pantone 109C yellow is joined by a vivid pink referencing the label’s progressive and folk period between 1967 and 1970. EMI’s British identity is interpreted through a deliberately deconstructed Union Jack palette of red, white and Yves Klein blue.
The colours continue through ALPI wood joinery, stainless-steel fabrication and bespoke framing, giving each label its own visual identity while connecting the art collection to the wider interior.
At the centre of the headquarters is an immersive listening room equipped with bespoke RN1 and M210 studio monitors from British hi-fi manufacturer TPI Aerospace, anchored by a work from Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller.
Elsewhere, the crossover between music, art and fashion continues through a bespoke kiosk presenting artist merchandise and streetwear collaborations with Aries Arise, Always Do… and Corteiz, bringing something of the concept store into the workplace.
Island’s Jamaican history also gets a more direct presence through a hand-painted mural by British-Jamaican sign painter Jorge Jacobs, originating from the Nurse Signs collective in Jamaica.
The result is intended to function as a spatial archive rather than a static celebration of the past — using almost a century of music, imagery and cultural collaborations as the backdrop for the artists and staff working there now.
James Mason and Joana Filipe, directors of Interesting Projects, said:
“We design spaces that encourage creativity and exchange, and we bring exhibition thinking to workplace environments, shaping them as curated, narrative-led experiences.”
For the pair, the project became “a spatial expression of musical legacy, where materiality, colour and art function both as an archive and as a foundation for the labels’ next chapter.”
That idea of bringing exhibition design into the workplace has a particularly appropriate origin. Holly Williams, Creative Director at Studio Eye, approached Interesting Projects after seeing its exhibition design for the Keith Haring retrospective at Tate Liverpool in 2019.
“The Island Records and EMI spaces blur the boundaries between workplace, gallery and concept store to create an environment where artists and staff can feel inspired and contribute to the legacies of two legendary British record companies.”
For two businesses built around producing culture, the redesigned King’s Cross headquarters makes a fairly straightforward argument: why should all the interesting stuff be kept in the archive?
