There’s one thing virtually monk-like concerning the branding for To My Ships, a brand new private care model based by Daniel Bense. As former Head of Industrial at Aesop and Managing Director at Sunspel, Bense is clearly a person who understands that at this time, luxurious isn’t about bling, gold ornamentation, and gauche, showy baubles; however about minimalism and understatement, and issues that scent very good certainly.
There’s little doubt that To My Ships’ aesthetic is veritable catnip for the refined, understatedly however quietly, clearly rich Aesop plenty – the yummy mummies of Broadway Market, the Ocado customers, the shiny haired hordes whose make-up goals primarily to look ‘dewy’ but additionally non-existent.
Whereas To My Ships’ title is, I’d argue, not-great (nothing to do with boats so far as I can inform, the moniker sounds extra like a grotesquely bland early 00s indie/folks/alt band, or a sixth type novella by somebody who’s simply found Virgina Woolf and never fairly but actually understood her). However its id could be very sensible certainly.
The model design, id, structural packaging and extra had been created by Milan- and Amsterdam-based research-centric design studio Formafantasma, which describes its raison d’etre as ‘investigating the ecological, historic, political and social forces shaping the self-discipline of design at this time’. And it actually weaves these disparate threads collectively in its in depth work for To My Ships.
Bense commissioned the studio to undertake an entire audit of the model, its supplies, programs, and assumptions. What emerged from that course of is a model outlined not by floor aesthetics, however by deep design ethics.
As such, the id is characterised by branding that doesn’t yell, or make itself recognized, however reveals itself progressively as a part of a extra holistic, critically ecological method to design, that’s all about sluggish consumption, graphic discretion, and naturally, advantageous, advantageous fragrances.
The tone is measured, the gestures minimal. Certainly, that is branding constructed not for cabinets or social feeds, however for longevity and ‘function:’ no saccharine pastel colourways, no botanical clichés, no gilded caps, no summary swirls of color, no gloss.
At first look, there’s virtually nothing to see. That is discretion by design: the branding exists to not overtly promote, however to tell, educate, and final – it suggests management, confidence, and crucially, an ecological conscience that you would be able to inform everybody about through your artfully organized toilet cabinets.
On the coronary heart of the design are the vessels themselves. The bottles are created from 100% post-consumer recycled aluminium, a cloth determination based mostly on analysis that discovered that it outperformed different pack supplies in recyclability and transport effectivity. The caps and pumps are created from PCR plastic, the naked minimal required for operate.
In the meantime the taller, slimmer bottle types had been chosen by Formafantasma to cut back materials by as much as 10%, a telling technical determination that speaks to a brand new form of luxurious aesthetic minimalism born of financial system reasonably than greenwashed affectation.
The model’s single expressive gesture is the wordmark: tomyships, rendered in a scripty, hand-drawn model. Sure, it’s elegant, however I’m not a fan. It’s a millimetre shy of twee – it’s acquired a pointy whiff of Nan, or ‘dwell love snicker’ about it. I hate the all-one-word factor, I hate the typeface, however fortunately the remainder of the design selections make it by some means work. May it have been higher? I’d undoubtedly argue a tough sure, however I can see the case for choosing such a mode as a option to soften or humanise the starker minimalism used throughout the remainder of the system.
Elsewhere, typography is cool, measured, and unobtrusive. Dinamo’s Diatype is paired with Sabon Professional Roman, bringing a steadiness of up to date readability and classical rigour. Collectively, they echo the mission’s rules: rational, modern, completely no want for fluff or advertising jargon or cheesy sloganeering.
The color palette is likewise resolutely understated. Refined shades of heat gray, pure aluminium, delicate off-whites and muted greens echo the supplies themselves reasonably than masking them. The labels carry minimal distinction, with textual content typically rendered in a deep charcoal, reasonably than full black (much less shouty, clearly).
Label design follows the identical rules: diminished, refined, and in the end detachable. Adhesives are chosen particularly to depart no hint, enabling bottles to be repurposed and reused over merely recycled.
The design system is spare to the purpose of ascetic; a form of industrial class. Past the tactile pleasure of the cool metallic, there’s an architectural logic to the bottle household. It’s a clear break from the business norm of ornate major packaging and disposable refills – a form of structural luxurious, true to the Formafantasma method, a call rooted in programs pondering reasonably than superficial differentiation.
In a market constructed on need, To My Ships proposes one thing quieter and arguably extra radical: real interrogation of how we use issues after which use them once more. As Formafantasma put it, ‘What we discover attractive within the packaging is that it’s not attractive’. That is graphic design as audit – ethics in motion. To My Ships isn’t simply one other clear magnificence model with recycled packaging. It’s a design experiment in how far rigour, honesty, and visible discretion can go. And peculiar title, twee scripty wordmark and all my snottiness across the Aesop aesthetes apart; this method is, maybe, is essentially the most compelling type of branding in an age of overstimulation.
