When Wall-to-Wall Honolulu team members finish a major design or advertising project, they celebrate. They gather and cheer as someone bangs the office gong, a cathartic tradition that marks the end of weeks toiling over a job. This happens in their Chinatown headquarters, which has an open layout with no private offices, a bar and the remnants of a vintage plane, which is quite the conversation piece with clients. It’s not typical, but Bernard Uy isn’t interested in typical.
When Uy co-founded Wall-to-Wall Studios in Pittsburgh 26 years ago, the vision was of a fun, inspired and collaborative office culture in which team members click on a professional and personal level, and each project is touched, seen, amended by everyone. Ego and sole ownership of a product don’t play a part. “That kind of thinking doesn’t survive at our studio,” explains Uy.
It was also about rethinking the design and advertising business. After years spent doing corporate work, Uy craved something more challenging and inspiring. He wanted to work with interesting clients and projects that gave his team the freedom to solve a design or branding challenge in their own creative way.
Today, the studio is known for innovative local projects with the Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club, Biki and many others. “We’re really trying to solve an interesting marketing or communications problem through visuals, storytelling … through something emotional,” says Uy.
In 2005, he moved to the Islands, where he spent some of his childhood, to launch the Honolulu office, and those values pervaded. Jennifer Tanabe, now a partner at Wall-to-Wall, was initially a client when Uy gave a presentation.
“I remember thinking that this person was going to change the landscape of branding and advertising in Hawaii,” says Tanabe. “He has a very clear vision of what Wall-to-Wall stands for, the kind of work we want to do, the kind of people we want to hire. And he’s remained true to that. There’s a steadfast commitment to … upholding that vision, whether that means that we hire a certain type of person or we start a relationship with a certain type of client.”
Uy says he often passes on contracts that aren’t best for the team, and on job candidates who aren’t the right fit.
“The more as a group that we feel connected to each other, the better the work we turn out,” he says.