Leo Burnett Sri Lanka creates the brand Shree using circles for fashion retailer Cotton Collection
Cotton Collection is a fashion retailer who has built a strong reputation for absorbing, reimagining and carefully incorporating the island’s unique identity in to its products.
For its foreign market, the retailer wanted to design a brand that captures not just the essence of Sri Lanka, but also a concept that creates empathy, admiration and curiosity for its rich culture.
Language is the root of any civilisation, and is the first induction to anyone who wants to interact with the land. The Sinhalese Alphabet, derived from the country’s native language, is arguably over 2500 years old. Tracing its ancestries back to a time when it was written on leaves, the alphabet removed straight lines from its letters to prevent tearing and losing itself along veins. This, inadvertently, gave it a wholesomeness that is quite distinct and exquisite. Unfortunately, in the recent past, this wisdom has lost its way. An insight that became the challenge and inspiration.
Leo Burnett Sri Lanka created the brand Shree, a title for respect. Using only circles, they produced a new script that can be customised in to any fashion item or accessory the tourists bought. Giving them not just a touch of tradition in its modern form, but also a part of Sri Lanka they can make their own.
Recently launched, the new brand has started to receive much commendation – not just from its customers, but also from linguists and traditionalists for its opportunity to expand the language in to contemporary usage and instruments. Artists, typographers and designers, for the usage of the script, have already approached the brand since rarely an attempt has been successful in modernising the alphabet while retaining its purity. Expanding the scope of the Brand’s business and positioning objectives.