Description:

Blunt umbrellas are an award-winning iconic Aotearoa New Zealand product. Beautifully designed, they are a true kiwi innovation. But this love for Blunt was limited to our shores.

Through research, we discovered the current brand was just a sales portal, lacking emotional connection. We needed to build out a global brand platform that aligned product love with a brand love - bringing heart, emotion, and character with a rich visual language.

As part of a wider Blunt rebrand project aimed at driving expansion into new markets and achieving global growth targets, we were tasked with creating a legacy piece that would capture the story of this award-winning umbrella - its origins and ethos, values, products and people.

It needed to pay homage to its heritage and founder, while celebrating the new identity and setting the brand up for a new future. A book that could equally belong in a Blunt store, on a customer’s coffee table, as a design archive in the Auckland Public Library or Auckland Art Gallery shop.

We began by delving deep into the archives, immersing ourselves in two decades of design, innovation and creativity. We discovered insightful interviews, partnerships and collaborations. A commentary of the cultural, historical and social context of the time.

We structured the book to document the evolution of Blunt, past, present and future. A journey across 240 pages from origins, engineering precision and meticulous craft through to global collaborations with artists and fashion designers. Featuring lavish photographs and illustrations as well as stories, interviews and personal insights.

Part brand book, part brand guideline, the book outlines Blunt’s design ethos and approach in a way that’s engaging and tactile. Designed to be opened at any page to explore naturally and engage with, the chapters are curated to mirror the brand’s journey in a natural manner - rather than the typically rigid structure of brand books and guidelines. It’s intention is for consumers, partner brands and Blunt staff alike, effortlessly taking people on a journey to better understand the Blunt world, their purpose, values and their vision of the future.

We produced the book in a traditional clothbound form so that it feels permanent and lasting - worthy of capturing such a legacy. Made for life, like the products. The experience is further elevated through a blind debossed iconic B, dual paper stocks for a sense of interaction and tactility.

We also produced five unique soft-touch dust jackets in bold colours, which blend joy and sophistication, each with a high gloss iconic Blunt B, helping protect the book in the places it will be found and also further emphasising the engineering and innovation of the brand.

The result is Made For Life. A book that celebrates a part of New Zealand design history, an umbrella that truly is made for life - for longevity and for the moments in life that matter.