bosk
bosk makes wooden utensils by hand for fine-dining kitchens. The whole brand rests on a single move: taking the o out of the name and putting an organic shape in its place that is, depending on how you look at it, the cross-section of a trunk or the canopy of a tree. That shape then becomes the symbol, the stamp and the clear space.
- Principles and purpose
- Personality and values
- Tone of voice and narrative
- Manifesto and concept
- Logotype and symbol
- Stamp and clear space
- Typefaces
- Palette
- Packaging and shipping
- Stationery
- Catalogue and outdoor
- Apparel and storefront
An object that cannot compete with the plate
bosk works by hand, in wood, for restaurants that already have a language of their own. There a utensil is not the lead: make it too noticeable and it competes with the plate; make it invisible and it is any handle. Craft, on top of that, arrives loaded with rustic clichés that are no use to a fine-dining table. It had to read as handmade without reading as a country fair.
Harmony is not a decoration, it is the criterion
The positioning came down to two words — craft wisdom — and everything else came down from there: a personality that is patient, detail-driven and sensitive, and three values that are empathy, professionalism and personalisation. The tone is calm, precise and evocative: it says little, it does not explain, it suggests. The manifesto puts nature as the thing that drives every decision and asks that every piece be in harmony with that essence. The concept closed on the line that later became the tagline: bosk is harmony matters.
One letter fewer, and a wood in its place
The logotype is set in DM Serif Display and drops the o: in its place goes an organic, irregular shape that reads as the cross-section of a trunk or as the canopy of a tree seen from above. That shape then does all the work — it carries the tagline inside and becomes the symbol, repeated along its contour it becomes the stamp, and enlarged around it defines the clear space. Sweet Sans Pro and Inter complete the system, one for print and the other for screens. The palette is two colours, jet black and pure white, and no third is needed: it is all said in that contrast.
Sweet Sans Pro
Inter
The stamp signs from a tube to a storefront
The system comes down to a kraft tube where a spoon travels with the manifesto printed on it and an exploded drawing that looks like a patent. From there it carries on in boxes, tape, envelopes, cards, bags, a t-shirt, a collection catalogue and a storefront. On almost all of them what signs is not the logotype but the stamp: the line turning on itself until the circle closes. It prints in one colour on unbleached paper, which is what a brand of handmade objects can hold without contradicting itself.
