Building bridges across craft and culture.
Brand Identity + Collaboration Design
I discovered Okayama Denim as a customer. Conversations with its founder became a years-long collaboration across special releases and partner brands. I drew on each maker’s story, materials, and production constraints to create identities that felt specific to the people and products behind them.
01 / THE APPROACH
Finding the story inside each release.
Each collaboration began with a conversation. Sometimes the starting point was a special denim, a vintage fabric, a dye process or an idea for a new release.
I worked from that story outward, exploring references, symbols and production constraints before refining the idea into a visual language that could live across the product and its release.
STARTING IDEAS
EXPLORATION
& DEVELOPMENT
REFINEMENT
& COLOR
APPLICATIONS
& FINAL PRODUCT
02 / DISTINCT STORIES
One approach.
Different answers.
Each Japanese denim maker brought a different history, material, and way of working. I developed each identity around those differences, connecting the release to the craft behind it.
PURE BLUE JAPAN / AISORA
A decade in development, Aisora called for an identity as distinctive as the fabric itself.
STUDIO D’ARTISAN / SASHIKO
Sashiko’s deeply textured fabric called for an equally handcrafted identity.
BIG JOHN / BAMBOO
Delicate linework echoed the quiet character of Big John’s cotton-bamboo denim.
03 / THE COLLECTION
Shaped together over time.
As the relationship grew, so did the range of the work. Each collaboration brought a different maker, material or story to respond to, creating a body of identities shaped by years of shared trust and exploration.
KAKISHIBU
OCHAZOME
PANTHER
MOMOZOME
KUROKAI
MATCHA
04 / BEYOND DENIM
Taking the approach somewhere new.
CHUP brought the collaboration into a different product and visual culture. The identity connected CHUP's established character with Okayama Denim's story, creating something shared without losing what made either brand distinct.
05 / TWENTY YEARS
Marking a milestone.
Okayama Denim and Pure Blue Japan share a history rooted in craft and collaboration. Their first custom collaboration marked Pure Blue Japan’s twentieth anniversary, bringing that relationship into a special release.
NATHAN SPOOR
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
