dn&co is a London-based brand and design consultancy inspired by culture and place – on a mission to bring purpose to places.
Who is leading dn&co?
Joy Nazzari
Joy is the founder of dn&co, a brand consultancy inspired by culture and place, and the team behind the reinvention of some of London’s most remarkable areas – St James’s, Broadgate, Television Centre, White City Place, and Ilford Town.
She has a natural curiosity for places and place identity. Born in Rio de Janeiro and educated in San Francisco, she has called London her home for 20 years and compulsively travels at every opportunity. Joy has collaborated with government, architects, developers and businesses to create meaningful destinations in workplaces, residential, retail, restaurants – through to entire neighbourhoods and towns.
Last year Joy co-founded Place Press, an independent publisher that explores the intersection between people, places and culture. Her recent book, Know Your Place, talks about the need to go beyond placemaking and create places with purpose.
Patrick Eley
Patrick is creative director of dn&co. Born in London and the son of two architects, perhaps working with the built environment was always inevitable for Patrick, although he started his career in-house as a graphic designer at the National Theatre – London’s both most-loved and most-hated building. At dn&co, Patrick uses his fascination with the city and passion for design to explore how people think about space and place – from how they navigate, to what stories they hear and the experiences they take away.
Which topics linked to the branding and reputation of places are you most passionate about?
Creating successful new places is not easy. It takes architects, contractors, politicians, planners, urbanists, artists, technologists, financiers and marketing experts to come together under a common mission.
At dn&co, we help people solve their place branding challenges by looking at ‘place purpose’ – the intentional reason a place exists, based on human-centred needs. We use brand to help those who want to do things differently, and have the ambition and courage to make our cities and our neighbourhoods better places for all.
Five hashtags which best describe your work:
#placepurpose #placebranding #place #placemaking #design
How to engage with you?
Send us a note, find us on Twitter or Instagram or, alternatively, give us a call.
Where can we learn more about your place branding work?
Our website. Our book, Know Your Place. Our sister publishing company, Place Press, with a catalogue of original titles we’re creating that will offer an insight into what makes us tick.
Your advice for place (brand) developers and managers?
Have you ever looked at your surroundings and wondered why so much of it looks the same? Many of the places that surround us were designed by committee with only shareholders in mind.
But sometimes it happens differently. And when it does, those places feel great. We want to come back to them again and again. That’s because those place were built with purpose.
To find out how and learn more about our approach to creating places with purpose, get in touch.