ROSE & THORNE
AN IDENTITY WITH A SLIGHT CRISIS
There are only two typefaces I was once told. Thinking (more likely over thinking) as I was working at New Zealand's leading indie ad agency MearesTaine (an agency who were one of the strongest print exponents) I imagined Franklin Gothic and Caslon, but the answer was "ones with feet and ones without".
Fundamentally that's true, but fundamental Kris Sowersby is not, thank goodness. Kris is a world class New Zealand type designer whose typefaces I personally - over the last few years - go to great lengths to utilize and enrich a clients brand with. When working closely with brands whose origins are in New Zealand I've become an ambassador for wedding them to best-in-business creative partners from the same 'long white cloud'.
Rose & Thorne is a company that began with a fresh sheet of paper and has created the world’s best everyday intimates using a truly contemporary approach. Their passion is lingerie, but a product that is ultra-comfortable, ridiculously affordable and easy to buy yet, doesn't sacrifice looks and style.
As obvious as it may seem, they started with the body, then distilling decades of experience and a world-wide search, they created five perfect shapes. This combined with a Rose & Thorne developed 'Forgiving Fit' technology, the company designed a huge range of lingerie that accommodates women - real women - in a way that changes their lives.
Originally the wordmark was all in one font, however it lacked warmth and personality. It was business like without likability. Previously the solution had been to encase the wordmark with an embellished capsule like border device. A device that restricted the brand name and was counter-intuitive to the essence of the brand and its product. But there wasn't a need to start a revolution, this was an exercise in evolution.
Client: Rose & Thorne
Agency: String Theory
Co-designers: Tim Blower and Georgie Sigglekow
Principal typefaces: Variable Bold (part of original wordmark) Domaine (ampersand) by Kris Sowersby
Photography: Getty Images and Rose & Thorne (close-up bra images)
The concept of creating an ampersand with the dot or stitched line came from a desire to add an element of craft and detail into the mark, something that is intergral to the brand DNA.
Kris Sowersby's Domaine typeface - particularly the italic - immediately engendered itself to text aspects of the Rose & Thorne brand identity, in fact I have rarely been party to a conversation with a client, where a
font became the centre of discussion as to its symbyotic relationship to
a brand. They simply loved it.
font became the centre of discussion as to its symbyotic relationship to
a brand. They simply loved it.
Point of sale visual concepts.
Designers: Dan Bussell and Georgie Sigglekow
MR. SOWERSBY
Kris Sowersby graduated from the Whanganui School of Design in 2003. After brief employment as a graphic designer, in 2005 he started the Klim Type Foundry, which is based in Wellington, New Zealand. His first retail typeface, Feijoa, was released into the international market in 2007.
In 2008, National, Sowersby’s second retail release, won a Certificate of Excellence from the Type Directors Club in New York. Since then he has received two more Certificates of Excellence (Serrano, Hardys) and worked on various custom and retail typefaces, including FF Meta Serif, the seriffed sibling of the renowned FF Meta.
A reputation for typeface design has led Sowersby to work with contemporary typographic luminaries such as Christian Schwartz, Erik Spiekermann and Chester Jenkins; and with eminent design establishments such as House Industries, DNA Design and Pentagram.
In 2010 Sowersby was named an ADC Young Gun. In 2013 he was accepted as a member of the prestigious Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI). Sowersby’s typefaces combine historical knowledge with rigorous contemporary workmanship and finish.
The Klim Type Foundry markets its typefaces directly through klim.co.nz.
Interview excerpt from I Love Typography
What one thing would you like every designer to know about type? (from Roger Gordon )
How to use type properly. I don’t necessarily mean adhering to the strictures of The New Typography or The Crystal Goblet or The New Brutalism or whatever. What I do mean is:
1) Most typefaces have environments in which they really shine, certain uses that they will never fail.
2) Others have environments in which they will always fail, typically in places where they were never meant to work.
3) A select few work beautifully in the most absurd situations.
2) Others have environments in which they will always fail, typically in places where they were never meant to work.
3) A select few work beautifully in the most absurd situations.
A competent typographer/designer knows the difference between 1) & 2). It honestly isn’t that hard to do. A truly excellent typographer/designer knows how to use 3). This is someone who can make a typeface perform like a star. It is much harder to do—but, by Christ, you know when you see it!
http://ilovetypography.com/2007/12/19/type-faces-kris-sowersby/
