Kuru – Sushi Bar

KURU is a contemporary sushi bar built around the energy of sushi on the move. For the identity, Affogato Brand Design wanted to capture that movement while giving the familiar sushi train experience a more playful, tactile, and elevated visual language.

The starting point was the wordmark. We explored a range of Asian-inspired typographic directions, but the identity only started to come together when we went back to something much simpler: the humble rice grain. Its small, organic form became the foundation for the custom KURU lettering, giving the logo a loose, hand-drawn character that feels expressive without being overly literal.

From there, the identity developed around a bold black and orange palette, tactile textures, expressive brush-like graphics, and a recurring fish motif. The fish became a simple visual shorthand for the food and the movement at the heart of KURU, appearing across menus, signage, packaging, and other brand touchpoints.

The menu became one of the main opportunities to bring the concept of movement into the physical experience.

Sushi is made by hand, and we wanted the menu to carry some of that tactile quality. Instead of treating it as a conventional piece of printed information, we experimented with a tactile surface made up of a grid of perforated elements. The fish graphic emerges through the pattern, creating a visual effect that changes as the menu is viewed and moved.

The result is a menu that feels closer to an object than a piece of collateral. It has texture, depth, and a sense of movement that connects directly back to the sushi train.

That same thinking extends across the physical identity. Orange plates, textured menus, chopstick sleeves, takeaway bags, fabric signage, translucent wayfinding, and environmental graphics all use the same visual vocabulary, allowing the identity to move naturally between the table, the restaurant, and the world outside it.

KURU gave us the opportunity to look at a familiar format from a different angle. Instead of leaning heavily on expected Japanese restaurant codes, we built the identity around the things that make the experience distinctive: rice, fish, handmade craft, movement, and the playful act of choosing plates as they pass.

The result is a brand that feels energetic and contemporary, but still connected to the physical rituals of sushi. KURU doesn’t just communicate “sushi on the move.” It makes movement part of the identity itself.