Funaki
Crafting a new chapter...
Mari Funaki’s creative legacy is deeply rooted in Melbourne’s design establishment. Rebranding this institution calls for meticulous craft.
Funaki’s relocation provides the perfect opportunity to define a new chapter. The brief? A brand that is more playful, less austere. Something more idiosyncratic of the next generation.
Sometimes to move forward, you need to look back. In this case, all the way back to 1973 when Melbourne graphic designer Con Aslanis won the Letragraphica International Typeface Competition with his typeface Yarra. With his blessing, we gave it a new lease on life, modifying individual characters and creating a range of visual weights to suit new mediums.
Exhibition catalogues The Mari Funaki Award for Contemporary Jewellery is a biennial event drawing makers from across the globe. Envelope created an elegant graphic alluding to the global nature of the Mari Funaki network. A folded brochure features an essay on Mari Funaki’s legacy and details on the judging panel — Simone LeAmon, Catherine Truman and Kate Rhodes.
I couldn’t have been in better hands. Ty had the years of specific experience required to understand the brief at a granular level, openness in taking on board my numerous ideas, genuine enthusiasm in embracing the project and finally, the clarity and vision needed to distil it all into something eloquent.
In this new branding language, disparate threads of history and meaning come together: my philosophy and Mari’s, my history and Funaki’s. Working with Ty has allowed me to take ownership of an important legacy and write a new, more personal, fundamentally optimistic chapter.
Another project…
NorthSite Contemporary Arts
A sense of place...