During the 2024 Olympic Games we were commissioned by AirBnb.org to provide a comprehensive branding package and venue creative at the famed Les Jardins du Pont Neuf, a floating venue on the Seine river in the heart of Paris. The principal goal was to cheer on the Refugee Olympic Team and raise awareness for displaced people everywhere. Tasked with making over the Les Jardins interior, we set about to build a visual language inspired by our historic surroundings that would honor and ultimately “Celebrate” the heroic efforts of the official Olympic Refugee Team. Taking a cue from the rich history of French visual arts – the foundation of our look and feel were hand drawn illustrations. Parisian landmarks accompany elements inspired by traditional fleur-de-lis and in which are embedded subtle branding moments. Using these illustrations we produced an iconic “toile” patterned wallpaper that was tastefully applied in various locations throughout the Jardin.
Since Les Jardins du Pont Neuf was to serve as the central hospitality venue for Airbnb and Airbnb.org as official sponsors of the games, and to celebrate the Refugee Olympic team we set about making the space warm and inviting, a place to rest and recharge, and then (literally) to “find them-selves.” Having created a hand-drawn portrait of each athlete, we knew these portraits stood for more than just the athletes themselves; they stood for the more than 120 million displaced people in the world today. These athletes are symbols of excellence and resilience, and their participation in the Olympic Games sends a powerful message of hope, belonging, and inclusion. Our illustrated portraits adorned the athlete badges and various gifted items, and our branding also adorned employee uniforms, tote bags, hats, and signage seen from the Seine during the Olympic games to Reims, France for the Paralympic games. Each instance provides the opportunity to reiterate a worthy mission – to celebrate The Refugee Olympic and Paralympic Teams.
Client: Airbnb.org
Agency Art Direction & Illustration: Nathan Bell
Agency Producer: Kimmy McAtee
Production Design: Edwin Smalling
Client Creative & Design: Randy Pikul
Client Executive Producer: Jessie Freeman
Interior Architecture Creative Direction:Rebecca Fairman with Airbnb Architecture + Interiors
Production design: Studio Lisa Dayan
Production Management: Chloé Seifert and Annette Stock with Airbnb and Josef Jammerbund & Guillaume Deman with Amplify
Photography: Marine Burucoa and Olympic Refugee Foundation
CLIENT
Airbnb.org
SCOPE
Art Direction
Design
Illustration
Production
