I completed the artwork for the logo for Stil und Stiele, a Zurich florist, in the Summer of 2017 off the back of an idyllic stay in the Jura mountains. I spent that week drinking wine in the sun, eating bread and cheese, hunting for butterflies and sketching the mountain wildflowers, always with a backdrop of crickets singing. Those wildflowers were truly amazing – I’ve never seen so many in one place and they made me really happy….So it was with huge pleasure that I was asked by Stil und Stiele to create a flowery logo which, finally, I can now reveal.
The logo needed to work in multiple ways within the brand, for example: on the website, as a social media icon, as signage and in print. Because of this, I created a number of versions.
First I worked on the lettering. I based it on a basic cursive script (like handwriting) which was adapted by adding tendril-like swashes to the ‘t’ and to a small ampersand. It was hand painted in a mid grey-green gouache and used in general (with a couple of adaptations) throughout the branding.
Next, I concentrated on creating two floral ovals. Stil und Stiele had given me a long list of plants crossing all seasons that they wanted me to use. Each flower had a particular meaning according to Floriography, the 19th century ‘Language of Flowers’. Effectively, secret messages could be sent to loved ones through ‘the medium of floristry’… I used the following:
Lily of the Valley – Return of Happiness, Humility
Snowdrop – Hope
Pansies – Thoughtful reflection, Merriment
Rosemary – Remembrance
Fuschia – Confiding love, Taste
Ivy – Fidelity, Wedded love, Affection, Friendship
Misteltoe – Kiss me, Affection, Difficulties
Parsley – Useful Knowledge
Asther – Symbol of love
Strawberry – Purity
The full floriography list is a really interesting read. Sometimes sentimental, sometimes funny – a hopeful suitor wouldn’t have been too happy after receiving a, seemingly innocuous, bouquet of Love in the Mist (‘You puzzle me’) and striped Carnations (a blunt ‘No, Sorry I can’t be with you’)…Ie: ‘I think you’re weird and I don’t want to go out with you!’
Eventually, there were two logo versions, one painted in watercolour and the other simply drawn in pen and ink. They’ll be used on print collateral like giveaway matchbooks and event programmes.
Finally, I designed the logo for the website. We settled on using the script body but creating a decorative ampersand to sit between ‘Stil’ and ‘Stiele’. A mass of green leaves became the background to a white ampersand – more solid than the original to avoid being lost in the leafy detail. The ampersand could be used alone too (for the social media icon for example).
And for a final flourish, my client asked me to illustrate a tiny bee (a miner bee) which could be dotted here and there for extra movement and symbolising the bee charity she supports.
All in all it was a really fun project to be involved in. I’m very pleased with the results and somehow, it will always remind me of those sunwashed hills in the mountains, totally filled with flowers.
