Soul Searching
DESIGN, CULTURE & COMMUNITY
We believe that there’s an innate human instinct to travel. Obviously the past couple of years has seen our much coveted freedom to travel curtailed as borders around the world closed, including our own here in Australia. It’s a concept we’ve given much thought to, of late in particular. You see, the call of travel is one that has beckoned us for as long as we can recall. Travel is a multi-sensorial experience and one that is uniquely connected to a deeper purpose.
‘Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.’
While Emerson penned these words in Boston in the United States, their sentiments speak sharply to us. They’re evocative, aren’t they? When you really lean into them, they become sensory- that sunshine warms your skin, you can taste that salt and you can feel that air in your lungs. If these words were a brand, they’d be living and feeling, and this is basically the core of everything we do as a design studio. It’s our brand purpose, and it’s intentional and it’s aligned to our values.
‘Intentional’ is the key word here. It was through finding our soul as a studio as well as our reason or purpose for being as humans, and as parents, that informed our move to Australia. In part inspired by Vince Frost’s, book ‘Design Your Life’, James and Alison did the hard yards of deeply considering how they wanted to live, work and play, and how to do it ‘better’ as well as clearly defining what ‘better’ means to them, individually, as a family, as a brand and as a collective. They challenged their long-held assumptions about work, life and everything in between and actively embraced the opportunities that come with a contemporary way of working and living, including remote working, some 15,000 km away from some of their clients in the UK, Europe and US. How truly amazing it is to think that Abound designs for our clients in a way that’s respectful of and aligned to their local identity regardless of where we’re geographically located. It all comes back to soul. It’s our purpose, our why, if you will.
And the purpose to this purpose? It’s relevance to us as a design studio? As Simon Sinek says, ‘People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.’
This forms the central pillar of how and why (more why!) of our work with clients, leading them through the soul searching that is essential to a powerful brand. It’s a purpose and values-led philosophy. Our design approach addresses the entire human experience. We purposefully design against experience, culture, community and discovery. It’s the carefully, meaningfully constructed hallmarks and rituals that connect experience to a brand’s culture and community and make soul tangible. We can only unearth the most relevant hallmarks, rituals and memorable stories through an intimate understanding of place and people. This is where we find the perfect signature drink, the ultimate locally curated mini bar (hello Birdsnake) and the locally sourced essential oils unobtrusively inspiring a shift in atmosphere.
We’re a strategic design studio, our expertise and experience lies in brand strategy and design, but above all that? We’re values-led and work with clients and brands who are a reflection of our values. Disruptors, people committed to making incredible experiences and meaningful design that moves across and beyond disciplines to create brands that enrich the lives of the people who encounter them.
Meaningful connection. Soul expression. Purpose driven. Cultural significance. Answering the siren call. Life by design. This is our purpose brought to life every day in our work. We absolutely love talking about the relationship between brand and purpose, almost as much as we love a splash of Esperance Distillery Co gin, and that’s saying something.
Find your soul, organise a coffee (or a gin) with us here
Acknowledgement of Country.
AboundStudio acknowledge this country's First Nations peoples and their ongoing strength in practising the world's oldest living culture. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands and waters on which we live and work, and pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.