Cala is dedicated to creating interior design accessories in collaboration with Mexican artisans. The designers work closely with the artisans using the traditional crafts and tools to create slightly more contemporary and unique pieces.

The project involved Naming, Branding, Creative Copy, Custom Type, Art Direction and Photography.

NAMING

The name Cala was inspired by Diego Rivera's paintings, which featured Mexican artisans with calla lillies in the scene. "Kali" also means home in Nahuatl (the most spoken indigenous language in Mexico), which made the name feel even more familiar and adequate.

CREATIVE COPY

Cala’s Brand Phrase combines “made in Mexico” and “made by hand” to form “Hecho a mano mexicana,” which translates to “Crafted by Mexican hands.”

CUSTOM TYPE

A special part of this project involved creating a custom typeface for the brand, which we called Cala Display. This is used throughout the communication as display text in the lookbook, social media, signage, etc. The type is inspired by very raw strokes to evoke a natural, slightly native look with a modern touch. There is an obvious calligraphic trait to the design, which connects to the handmade origin behind the crafted pieces, but the high-contrast speaks to a more fashionable audience.

The stencil-like nature of the typeface enables it to be easily reproduced across store packaging materials such as boxes, as well as tags and signage. Certain segments from the typeface are extracted to create a pattern used across decorative materials, including gift wrap and shopping bags.

ART DIRECTION & PHOTOGRAPHY

Across the art direction and product shoots, we aimed to reference Mexican art by drawing inspiration from still-life paintings, incorporating materials such as wrinkled fabric, flowers and plants alongside the products in the compositions.