Branding agency Nihilo is more adept than most at shattering stereotypes – both in the work they make, and in terms of who the agency is, and what it’s all about. Founded by designer Emunah Winer and writer Margaret Kerr-Jarrett in Israel in 2021 and now based in Columbus, Ohio, the agency takes its name from the Latin term ‘creatio...
Using olive oil has never been so squ-easy. That’s how Andrew Benin, founder of Graza, would like us to feel. As Kelsey McClellan reports for the Wall Street Journal, Benin knew the last thing the world needed was another snobby olive oil and the key goal was finding ‘the sweet spot between flavor and affordability’. This product does feel different...
International creative studio network Base Design is behind the branding for Divine Farmer, a California-based wellness company with an identity centred on New Age-style iconography and a heavy reliance on storytelling. Divine Farmer was founded by Polina Bowler, an acupuncturist and herbalist and owner of LA-based holistic wellness centre East Meets West who came up with the idea for the...
The skincare industry is a varied visual landscape. At one end of the spectrum, brands like Glossier and Soft Services (reviewed July 2022) have found balance in softness and understated minimalism. At the other Dr.Jart+ (reviewed Jan. 2018) and Malin+Goetz bring pharmacy-chic with functional, type-led packaging. And then we have our classic, heritage brands – like Kiehl’s and Elizabeth Arden – which...
Five years ago, the discerning and culinary-minded were content with their everyday Waitrose Essential Extra Virgin Olive Oil. But now – as with wine – there is increasing awareness that the taste of oil is individual, depending on olive variety, soil type, climate, cultivation method, and a host of other factors. From The River Café’s hotly anticipated annual pressing to...
Self-care is nothing new, but our understanding and appreciation of it as a society has grown enormously in the last half century, and especially recently when it became a trending topic during the isolation periods of coronavirus in 2020 and 2021 (70 million hashtags on Instagram, and counting). In the dawn of this enlightened thinking, products in this space have...
There’s a drink for all occassions. Could be with friends, out at a bar, in a restaurant, perhaps alone. There are also drinks that you might expect to take you away from the everyday, perhaps to a quieter more tranquil place, where torrent of ice water meets the churn of the sea. Still Waters, a New Zealand distilled gin and...
New products, new markets and new consumer groups generate new aesthetics – or, at least, you would hope so. Too often, style migrates from one category to another, or the identity of a sub-culture (visually speaking), is exploited in a commercial context. This is where ‘authenticity’ emerges, to support genuine origin credentials, or to mask the appropriation with narrative context....
In case you’ve missed it, low and no-alcohol drinks are a thing. With over 20% of adults in the UK claiming to be teetotal, abstinence is cool: Brewdog is now Punk AF (that’s ‘alcohol free’), Thomson & Scott’s Noughty is (fairly) nice, and Seedlip is sexy. This sobriety revolution is driven, in part, by the mindfully sceptical Gen Z, turned...
Although its recent rise to popularity has been rapid, running a quick search on ‘kombucha’ reveals that until the 21st century it had seen little category growth since its creation, more than 2000 years ago. For the uninitiated, kombucha is a fermented, non-alcoholic sweetened tea containing vitamins, amino acids and nutrients. This mix of familiarity (as a tea), its sweetness...
Senja is a Scandinavian premium cosmetics brand, founded by Senja Parkkinen, with a range of toners, cleansing foams and oils made from active natural ingredients all manufactured in Finland. With a desire to communicate an all-natural and contemporary positioning and capture the fresh air and harsh environmental conditions that produced many of these ingredients, the brand worked with Werklig to develop a...
Hüngry Beast is a cafe and juice bar located in Mexico City’s Roma Norte neighbourhood, a place of recent cultural and gastronomic development. It is a modern and casual experience with a focus on simple, high-quality cold-pressed and gluten-free products creatively prepared from healthy organic ingredients. The urban, natural and creative positioning of the cafe is expressed materially throughout an...