Derrick Lin

Global

Creative Agency: Reynolds and Reyner
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: Sons of Christiania
Location: USA

Sons of Christiania (SOC) is a hundred years story about an ordinary still endlessly talented immigrant family from Norway which made that very American dream come true. Having inherited from his great grandmother Elna Heffermehl the unique gene of inborn clothes designer SOC founder Jens Ingebretsen became the prominent example of self-made person of the present. Being among first immigrants during the Great Depression times Elna left cold Scandinavia for the USA seeking for a better life. She earned her living by selling handcrafted hats in Brookline. The capital of Norway Oslo used to be called Christiania. SOC today is not just a fashionable menswear brand of brutal style but a powerful self identification philosophy in the means of a freedom-loving personality of new generation.

Natural brown, grey and red shades, rough surfaces, authentic old-fashioned fonts, abrasions and stamps, these concepts of brand identity are definitely full of history. The labels would happen amongst the industrial class old photos, and nowadays through the prism of contemporary graphic design they are especially relevant. The immigrant logo is a generalized character, personification of the hopes of millions facing the obscurity. To provide it with a more refined image the originally existing symbol of a walking immigrant underwent numerous modifications while the need to completely escape the full name and take the SOC abbreviation grew to avoid the unlike resemblance to religious communities.

SOC showroom was also designed in a distinctive style offered by the identity. Rich accents contrasting toward light shades background, original prints, rough furniture of natural wood, day- and electric light combination certainly create the very comfort zone for a gentleman who is proud of his manful appearance. Still doubt SOC has truly Scandinavian hard-edged temper? Dare to get your pair of your wearable denim by breaking the glass jar. Absolutely! You will hurt yourself for sure, but it could be no other way when it is about true brutal men.