San Francisco design studio gets Grammy nomination for sustainable album artwork
In San Francisco's Dolores Heights, on the ground floor of an old Victorian, there is an unusual design and branding studio called The Office of Ordinary Things, or "TOOOT" for short.
Once inside, it's easy to see there's nothing ordinary about it.
"We focus on you know working with companies and organizations that are doing something beneficial for the planet, for its people," explained founder and graphic designer Jonny Black.
"There are so many creative and effective ways to be more sustainable and just reduce the waste," added graphic designer Giorgia Sage.
Black and Sage work in a studio that focuses on climate, sustainability and social good. The biggest issue with design firms when it comes to sustainability and environmental impact is packaging,
"Packaging is one of the biggest areas where there's a huge environmental impact. Trees need to be chopped down, or paper needs to be churned up and recycled into new paper. Both take energy and water and have a carbon impact," explained Black.
The firm approaches its tools carefully and with sustainability in mind. Included in their toolbox is thinking about where their resources come from.
"Sustainable papers printed in the U.S. versus overseas, to reduce shipping costs and emissions, and sustainable like inks and production, when possible," said Sage.
As for plastics, they're ubiquitous. The designers are cognizant about reducing their use of single-use plastics.
"You can't totally remove plastic in parts of the process, but absolutely we're trying to," said Black.
Recently, the young founder of the firm got an early morning phone call to tell him the designers are on the short list for a Grammy Award. They are nominated for "Best Recording Package" for their client, award-winning Concord, North Carolina-based folk rock group the Avett Brothers.
The band is also into sustainability.
"I love Jonny for that. He's a real advocate and a real hero and Giorgia is right there with him," said Scott Avett.
Avett spoke to CBS News Bay Area from his home in North Carolina. He thinks the world about the San Francisco design team.
"Not only are they so intelligent. They are heart smart. They're just so brilliant in the heart," remarked Avett.
The Avett Brothers have released 17 albums, including 11 studio albums. The recording package that is nominated concerns the band's most recent eponymous album.
The recording is a collection of songs that seek out the sacred in the commonplace. And the Grammy-nominated packaging reflects that beauty.
"The goal is to add depth to the experience and really to bring in and allot you to get lost in the world," said Black.
Both designers listened to the recording multiple times and read the lyrics before coming up with their concept and presenting it to the band.
Black said at first, he was just listening to the grooves and the melodies. He jumped on a plane for a scheduled meeting with the Avett team. While on the plane, he got word that his father had died. The designer was bereft.
He started looking for music to calm his mind and nothing worked until he loaded up The Avett Brothers.
"And immediately, tears you know? And I realized that the record was about grief. And all the lyrics sort of were crystal clear and really connected with me at that moment," recounted Black.
He told the Avetts the news after the weekend was over and he was about to go home. Scott Avett hugged him. Black told CBS News Bay Area that it was an important and profound experience to listen to this recording under the circumstances.
The nominated recording packaging is tactile; simple, but lush. The work is covered in textures, with hidden etchings and symbols that are connected to personal histories of the brothers. The color scheme of red, white, and black were inspired by ancient bibles.
The simplicity of the design belies the complexity and deepness of the messages and meanings held inside. Enclosed in the album is a lyric book that resembles a volume of poetry. The drawing that displays a wild forest is near the childhood home of the Avetts.
Each lyric or poem has a unique layout and is accompanied by an illustration by Scott Avett.
"The relationship between the simplicity and the complexity. How do we bring maximum deserved complexity? But remembering in nature, that simplicity is sort of where we went and is sort of somehow the settling place," explained Avett.
Now the recording package is up for a Grammy.
"This whole thing is so humbling and surreal," said Sage
"It would be a great honor to win with it with this beautiful work that Jonny and Georgia helped us with," said Avett with a big smile.
The 67th Grammy Awards airs on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, at 5 p.m. on CBS.
