Parasol

Parasol is a design company specialising in branding and design, with offices in Stockholm, Barcelona and New York City. We spoke to one of their Founders, Creative Director Ramiro Oblitas, about some of their recent branding work and how they approached it. EM: What’s the story behind Parasol and how you got to where you are today? RO: Parasol is a design studio founded in 2008 by myself and Saul (Taylor). I met Saul when we both started working for Tyler Brûlé at his advertising agency Winkreative (formerly Wink Media) in 2000. We were two of the original members of the group that at the time consisted of two or three staff, including Tyler. We soon understood that the environment was a true exception from the traditional agency set up. We flew all over the world giving presentations to a roster of clients we could only have dreamt of and we were always encouraged to take the lead. This unique opportunity gave us confidence and a realisation of our potential. After a year of long hours – primarily spent on planes and in airports – we won the biggest account in the agency’s history: the re-branding of Swissair. As expected, the number of visits to airports increased and we were commuting to Zurich’s Kloten airport three times a week. During our time at Wink we worked across a variety of industries and sectors, developing global brand identities, launching magazines on the international newsstand and working with the best talent in the world.