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The word ‘brand’ is arguably one of the most overused words today. It is applied across all sorts of platforms but also often reduced to a logo. What does it mean to you and to your company? 

We’ve always taken a holistic approach to brand. It’s everything that a customer sees, feels, thinks about or interacts with in context of a product or service. For us, successful branding makes something more than what it is or provides. We aim to make a memorable or emotional connection. A genuine connection to a brand can only be made if the story and its promise is authentic. We were fortunate in this regard working with AGSA.

We started the process of uncovering an insightful truth to anchor the rebrand. It was an enormously engaging and stimulating process, partly because of the passionate team and their infectious energy, because of their high level of intellectual engagement as well as their clarity of vision. AGSAs intimate understanding of its clientele, established via sophisticated visitor feedback loops, made our job a pleasure and privilege. They are a truly inspired team and an aspired gallery that already had a unified vision which made our job a lot easier.

One of the processes you used in working with the Gallery involved creating identities/characteristics to speak to the Gallery’s identity and ambitions. Can you tell us more about these?

There are many forces that come into play in creating an identity. To illustrate, the way that AGSA was curating exhibitions was identified as a key point of differentiation and we felt, that although it was a clearly defined practice within the gallery, it wasn’t communicated in the gallery’s brand positioning. Instead of curating in a conventional, didactic or categorical way in style or time period, AGSA was distinctive in combining old and new in a much less linear way. This practice mirrors a more indigenous concept of time, where old and new are both “now”’.

We identified additional characteristics to reflect the unique offer and identity of AGSA, drawing from the unconventional way it curates work as mentioned above, its commitment to unconventional and divergent thinking to maintain surprise, strong links to the indigenous community and its location in the heart of Australia’s cultural capital.

The foundation for the new brand platform that we developed, Forever Now, emerged from this existing practice of a dynamic curatorial agenda as well as AGSA’s unique connection to place.

You’ve worked with art, artists and museums across your career, what distinguishes this type of client?

We started our business 25 years ago with a cultural niche and it continues today, working in the cultural sector and engaging with artists to bring something unexpected to the everyday.

We regularly collaborate in order to be challenged and extended. There are pragmatic and also emotional aspects to this. The practical aspect is that, for any creator, taking inspiration from the wider world is paramount. If you're not continually drawing creative sustenance from as many sources as possible then you’re not growing.

Collaboration with artists can help to shape experiences, in part because a fresh influence injects originality into the storytelling but also because an artist comes along and mutates the original thinking. We often say that “collaboration is contamination” and we love that. A new influence can come in and turn an idea on its head. Literally blow it up. That’s when really unexpected and truly unique outcomes are achieved.

Museums have commercial objectives like most clients, but their conceptual aptitude to engage with creative thinking and concepts is second nature which is a point of difference. Certainly in the case of the Art Gallery of South Australia, they are conceptually focused with ideas informed by intellect and anchored by a strong sense of identity. They go beyond the obvious and the aesthetic.

Read the full article here

AHEAD recognises excellence in hospitality design and experience in regions including Asia, Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. Held in London and New York, AHEAD Global is its pinnacle awards ceremony and includes category winners from regional competitions held in 2018.

Studio Ongarato won the global award for Visual Identity for its work on luxury Australian hotel Jackalope, after winning this category at the AHEAD Asia-Pacific Awards in 2018. The global Visual Identity category is comprised of exceptional projects that recognise the overall visual identity of a hospitality project including, but not limited to, elements such as graphic design, signage and physical collateral.

The studio’s work for Jackalope spanned brand identity and collateral, conceptual site narrative and experiential design, art curation and commissioning, environmental graphics and styling, lighting design, landscape installation design, and wayfinding strategy and signage. Watch the video here.

Recognised by industry leaders as an exemplar of the shifting landscape of Australian luxury, Jackalope and its bar, Flaggerdoot, and restaurant, Doot Doot Doot, command attention with their avant-garde integration of environment and brand experience.

Studio Ongarato carefully considered each of the hotel spaces to maximise a sense of intimacy while enhancing the cinematic appeal of the site, which is set on the 11-hectare Willow Creek Vineyard. At each turn, visitors are encouraged to engage with a thematic world where the mythological narrative of the Jackalope is unveiled incrementally, yielding a sense of discovery.

Jackalope’s magnificent site inspired a brand narrative based on the concept of alchemy as a metaphor for winemaking. This concept was also expressed in the Jackalope itself, a transformative and mythical creature that is half hare, half antelope.

Studio Ongarato’s conceptual site narrative was expressed in various incarnations throughout the hotel, bar and restaurant to encourage an immersive and interactive guest experience.

“Jackalope is a hotel brand conceived at the international level so we are very proud to see our aspirations for the project awarded at AHEAD Global,” studio co-founder and creative director, Fabio Ongarato, says.

“The award is particularly satisfying as it affords the highest recognition for our approach to visual identity and immersive design. The judges saluted our site narrative, which saw the concept of alchemy expressed through all areas of the hotel experience, from the distillation theme in its signature bar, Flaggerdoot, to the glowing installation of 10,000 suspended amber lightbulbs representing fermentation in the restaurant, Doot Doot Doot.”

Responsible for spearheading the shift towards brand storytelling in design, Studio Ongarato recognises that guests of luxury hotels and restaurants have come to demand exceptional, authentic experiences. In creating a cohesive language, the studio’s design elements are used to reflect the intended brand experience at every customer-facing touch point.

Ronnen Goren, Studio Ongarato co-founder and strategy director, says the AHEAD Global award is a vindication of the studio’s “design without borders” approach.

“We seek to elevate our clients to the forefront of cultural influence,” he says.

“Studio Ongarato does this by working with designers, curators and editors, architects, art directors and craftspeople. As with several of our projects, our vision for Jackalope involved working with renowned artisans and artists, such as Emily Floyd, Andrew Hazewinkel, Rolf Sachs and Kate Robertson.”

“Culturally grounded and immersive design can be playful – as our work at Jackalope demonstrates – but it needs to transcend novelty and demonstrate that it is founded on a rigorous, strategic interrogation of brand and context.”

Project Collaborators
Architects and Interior Design: Carr Design, Melbourne
Landscape Design: Taylor Culity Lethlean, Melbourne
Artists: Emily Floyd, Andrew Hazewinkel, Rolf Sachs, and Kate Robertson
Interior and exterior photography: Mark Roper and Sharyn Cairns