With a legacy dating back to over 60 years ago, Bynd Artisan was established by Singapore’s oldest bookbinder to celebrate the work and joy of master craftsmen. The retail concept is a tribute to the enduring excellence of a small band of homegrown craftsmen schooled in the traditional ways of bookbinding and leather crafting.

We were commissioned to create a branding experience for Bynd Artisan’s customers. The final result was a brand ethos of “Something’s Worth Sharing”, marrying the ideas of “hardware” (sharing Bynd Artisan’s expertise of paper, leather and bookbinding techniques) with the “heart” of their story (sharing their heritage, built upon the qualities of honesty, authenticity and artisanship). This notion of “sharing” is especially apt in the modern context of social media shares and the exchange of user-generated content.

This one-off series of four oversized posters for Bynd Artisan was inspired by their time-honoured practices and artisanship. The subject matters of these posters revolved around the company’s history and story, the artisans themselves, ready-made products, as well as bespoke services made available to their customers.

Created in collaboration with Bynd Artisan’s master craftsman, Mr Chong Beng Cheng, each poster was meticulously crafted using a medley of traditional bookbinding supplies, and the workshop’s leftover leather patches and paper scraps.

We designed a booklet to capture Bynd Artisan’s wealth of experience, knowledge and history, and to act as a tactile extension of their capabilities and dedication to their craft. Also doubling up as a product catalogue, the booklet celebrates the spirit of creativity by utilising an assortment of paper sizes and stocks, each with its own tactile characteristic. Finally, the booklet was collated and hand-bound with Singer sewing in three different thread colours.

A series of typographical postcards, each emblazoned with a letter to make up the word “SHARE”, brings to the forefront Bynd Artisan’s brand ethos. The graphic elements within the type act as a reminder of the crucial physical component of their craft – with references made to bookbinding gauze, thread, and even ink blots. A tribute to the intricacies of Bynd Artisan’s craftsmanship, the postcards were produced with a combination of letterpress and screen-printing techniques.

In collaboration with interior architect LAANK, we were tasked to brand and provide the art direction for the interior of Bynd Artisan’s flagship store.

The concept of Bynd Artisan’s space draws largely from its brand ethos “Something’s Worth Sharing” by sharing itself among the three main aspects of the business. There is a Gallery space featuring collaborations with local artists (including &Larry’s capsule collection as Bynd Artisan’s first collaboration), a Retail space to sell Bynd Artisan’s wares and creations, and an Atelier, which is where the artisans work and share their skills and expertise with others.

It was also important to retain the feeling of authenticity and heritage, such as keeping the factory’s original brick walls and ceiling beams. In this way, the “old” still mingles with the “new”, juxtaposing old furniture and the letterpress machine against rose-gold shelving and piping, and introducing touches of luxury and modernity to traditional tools and machinery.

Dark glass and customised lighting also create dimension within the flagship store, enhancing the retail experience for customers. The overall space is crafted to give visitors a holistic Bynd Artisan experience above and beyond a typical gallery or retail shop.

Working together with IGX Design Studio, we successfully transplanted the spirit of Bynd Artisan’s original flagship store and atelier into a brand new space at Raffles City. Every detail builds on the brand essence of ‘Something’s Worth Sharing’, from the space planning, which includes a central island showcase for customisation services that properly considers the needs of the craftsmen in attendance, to the authenticity of materials, such as the visual and tactile interplay of heritage tools within a modern retail space.