#White Papers
Anatomy of a rebrand: we uncover Roksanda's new brand identity, designed by Studio Frith
What's in a name? Frustration, if you're a fan of Roksanda Ilincic and prone to recommending her spirited collections, however arduously.
Last spring the Serbian designer cleverly dodged the pronunciation question by rebranding herself as the mononymous 'Roksanda'. She followed with her first boutique, designed by David Adjaye in London's Mayfair, and a plan to expand globally.
It would stand to reason her next move would be a rebranding of the entire label. For that, she worked with Studio Frith, the maverick London design consultancy that counts the Frieze Art Fair and Chisenhale Gallery as clients.
With everything from labels and logotype to bags and even the tissue paper stuffed inside, Roksanda and founder Frith Kerr streamlined the identity with a theme of modern, sophisticated simplicity. Using Roksanda's past collections as inspiration, they drew up an assortment of coordinating pieces that are architectural in structure and tone - and grabbed a striking sapphire hue as the accent colour.
Ilincic, for her part, was thrilled with the results. 'I love what we have created with Studio Frith,' she says. 'It's about sophistication, simplicity and globally accessible luxury, accented with the playful attitude that runs through the heart of my label.'
Kerr is more specific. 'Most object designs feature bespoke materials sourced by us,' she says, 'materials and textures were driven into exquisite clashes, taken from uncommon forms while exploring sophisticated detail - wanting to hold and be held.' Kerr uses as an example the blue injection-moulded bag handles, inspired by a plastering scraper.
A document of the brand 'narrative' - photographed by Polly Brown, whose recent 'Bodies' and 'Plants' photo series caught the eye of the designers - reveals as much. Brown captures a veritable mood board of imagery: an electric-turquoise swimming pool, terrazzo marble, tropical fruit trees, a white-sand beach and spilt milk on polished wood. It's meant to capture the detail of the new labels, the crispness of the stationery and the sheen of the packaging ribbon in different contexts and imagine the different stories around them.
If it's anything to go by, the Roksanda woman is in for the ride of her life.
