Funaki

Crafting a new chapter.

Designing for a business like Funaki is a singular challenge. Under its founding director, Mari Funaki, the gallery had a clearly defined branding legacy with deep roots in Melbourne’s design establishment.

Arts & culture
  • Brand identity
  • Communications
  • Publications
  • Packaging
  • Signage

Envelope has worked with Gallery Funaki since 2016 but the relocation in 2023 of this Melbourne design institution provided the perfect opportunity to define a new chapter. The brief? A brand that is more playful, less austere. Something more idiosyncratic.

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 Con’s blessing, Envelope gave it a new lease on life, modifying individual characters and creating a range of visual weights to suit physical and digital applications.

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.”

— Katie Scott

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.”

— Katie Scott

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.

Elegy is an exhibition of mourning jewellery by 12 Australian women artists, reflecting on the loss of ecology and biodiversity. Envelope’s design solution expresses the five stages of grief in finely dotted lines that eloquently embody the theme of lament.

Moulded by time…

Envelope’s deep understanding of Funaki’s history helped chart a new direction for its future. How could we help craft the next chapter of your brand story?

Contact us