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Last week, a much heralded retrospective of Yayoi Kusama's work opened at the Tate Modern. Cited as the most important and influential Japanese artist alive today, it showcases work across her long and prolific career, from the 1940's until present day.

The show kicks off with a look at Kusama's early career, revealing the seeds of an artist finding her feet in the late 1940's. Throughout a series of expressive paintings she wears influences from the period on her sleeves. Traces of Miro and Dorethea Tanning surface through dark and dream-like imagery tinged with surrealism. In 'Lingering Dream, 1949' a highlight from her work of this era, blood red flowers wilt and die, their petals cast into gaping mouths, gasping for air. This work initially seems very distant from her later work, fore-going her trademark playfulness and use of colour. The trauma of a post-war Japan, is writ large here, with devastation and tragedy still a recent memory to many of her generation. It was a birthplace it seems she was desperate to escape, describing it at the time as 'Feudal and artistically inhibiting'.

Her subsequent move to New York in the 1950's marks a clear progression in her work. Exposure to the abstract expressionist and pop-art movements seemed to stimulate a new rigour and emerging style to her approach. Giant Canvases, seemingly at first a minimal wash of muted tones, reveal themselves to be obsessively constructed landscapes of staccato brushwork, almost machinelike in their regularity. It is an approach which she described as a 'meditative process', but which also in retrospect signalled a growing obsessiveness which marked a slow slide into mental illness.

A defining point of the show, are the 'whole room installations', bold sculptural pieces where items from everyday life are festooned in fleshy white phallic growths. In 'Boat, 1964' a rowing boat submits to this unique fate, spot-lit in a shadowed room, with repeated photostats of the incident wallpapered from floor to ceiling. The effect is both dramatic and unsettling.

Walking through the exhibition reveals an artist constantly adapting to her cultural surroundings. Perhaps the most pertinent example of this was her induction into the flower generation of the late 60's. Psychedelic film footage documents her artistic experiments with group performance, where shots of body painting are manically edited into dizzying celluloid trips. Out of context of the swinging 60's, this work does seem at times a little trite, but did as the exhibition proceeds to reveal, pave the way for a riotous exploration of colour for which she became famous.

The 1970's onwards marked the appearance of her signature polka dot, a device which she has explored with vigor across a series of sculptures, and installations. One particular gallery space was flooded in almost-darkness, dimly lit in ultra-violet. Small fluorescent polka dot stickers peek out of the shadows, covering the forms of a domestic interior; a table, a lamp, yet radically recasting them as something mysterious and otherworldly. The show stealing final piece draws viewers into a winding tunnel of wall-to-wall mirrors and sparkling lights, conjuring an infinite horizon, magical and absorbing.

Stepping away from this riotous world, it struck me how much the curation of this exhibition really plays to the strength of Kusama's work. Building a story across 50 years which seems to both deeply expose her drive and character, whilst equally reflecting the cultural and stylistic shifts of half a century. In short, it's a ride well worth taking.

We picked up three awards at last night's Design Effectiveness Awards, hosted by the Design Business Association.  Our work with Twinings landed two silver awards, whilst our redesign of UK's leading honey brand Rowse scooped us a bronze in the branded packaging design category.

We also celebrated making a massive jump forward in the effectiveness league tables.  We are now among the five most financially effective agencies in the UK, meaning that when clients choose to work with us they know that they are getting the all important return on investment that great design strategy can achieve.

For those not in the know, the DBA's annual Design Effectiveness Awards are the most prestigious accolade in design, being the only award scheme that uses commercial data as a key judging criteria.  We're particularly proud of the wins, which are the design industry's equivalent of the advertising industry's IPA awards, because all entries had undergone two stages of rigorous judging by business leaders, including company directors from Lloyds TSB, Sainsbury's, Samsung and GlaxoSmithKline.

In terms of results Twinings Florals, the limited edition range of four fragrant blends that we created, overachieved first year sales forecasts by 157.7%. Whilst Twinings Earl Grey became the number one selling Earl Grey blend across all retailers following our redesign, allowing a 29% increase in the rate of sale of Twinings Earl Grey and helping the brand to achieved it's highest weekly share for three years in both the speciality and Earl Grey markets. Rowse honey benefitted from 11% increase in distribution across major accounts and a 28% increase in consumer brand awareness following relaunch with new designs created by us.

For more examples of our award winning work, take a peek at a few case studies, if you want to find out more about how BrandOpus can create effective design for your brand drop Avril Tooley a line avrilt@brandopus.com

After seeing the Cirque du Soleil 5 years ago I couldn't resist seeing them again when I found out the new tour Totem was at the Royal Albert Hall. (I have a personal penchant for the Royal Albert Hall after singing with none other than Jason Donovan in Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat when I was only 10 years old)

Totem- where do I begin? Microbes and monkeys, swamps and springboards, lasers and lotharios: welcome to the latest Cirque du Soleil! The opening is wonderful: a spangled man (Joseph David Putignano) descends from the hall's highest point and descends into what appears to be a huge tortoise shell where frogs appear to leap and perform the most amazing acrobatics.

The many highlights for me included a Native American woman being spun around by her neck from a man on roller stakes and Chinese women kicking and catching bowls on their heads, whilst managing to ride around on tall unicycles.  At the culmination I counted a grand total of nine bowls and a teapot. Then there's the team of eight Russian men... One guy holds a pole steady on his shoulders as a team of acrobats slither up it, then the pole is then transferred to his forehead whilst the guy at the top does a headstand. Incredible!

The costume design is amazing too. From dazzling Swarovski crystal-encrusting to glittery frogs and unusual clowns, providing a nice twist on the classic circus.

The graphics projected onto the stage are amazingly effective at making the performers and stage become one; Film projections flow across a sloping platform at the back of the stage, suggesting waterfalls or lapping waves. In one sequence, the water retreats creating a beach, with the stage becoming the shimmering surface of the ocean. In another, filmed figures swim into view, emerging from the screen as actual performers.  I can't fathom the amount of time it took to imagine and technically work out the set design.

In all, Totem is a visual sensation and such a slick performance that really doesn't fail to amaze and keep you on the edge of your seat!