Featured image for The Gentleman Floris

The Gentleman Floris

by Jenifer Tracy on 07/14/2015 | 4 Minute Read

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 British, regal and masculine (No, I’m not describing One Direction). These adjectives characterize the packaging design for the new line of men’s grooming products, The Gentleman Floris. Released by the luxury perfume house, Floris, the design work captures both the rich brand heritage of Floris and the sensibilities of a younger, modern man. “It was so important to us that the heritage and the expectation of quality and detail of our brand shone through the identity and packaging, but also was made to feel relevant to a new generation.”

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Accolades for the beautiful work can be given to the London studio of the international design agency, Design Bridge. Working with the luxury perfume house, Design Bridge was responsible for creating a name, design and identity for the high-end men’s grooming line. The design needed to celebrate the brand's long and rich 300-year history, established in 1730 and still located at the original 89 Jermyn Street location. “The Jermyn Street area, with its world-famous craftsmen and tailors geared almost exclusively to the quintessential English gentleman, inspired our thinking for the new name of the range, ‘The Gentleman Floris’, which also speaks to the air of refinement inherent in the brand.”The inspiration for the new packaging design came from looking back at Floris’ long history. Design Bridge took design cues from the iconic location of the historic shop on the renowned Jermyn Street, and from architectural details from the shop-front’s copper window frames. Floris’ signature navy blue was complemented with a paler blue, together giving the brand a very masculine personality while also still feeling integrated into the wider brand identity. 

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“We wanted the design to be understated, confident and refined – qualities reflective of the quintessential English gentleman we had in mind when designing the range. In creating this stylish identity it has allowed us to tell the Floris story while letting the quality of the products speak for themselves.”The box which each product is housed in, is two shades of navy blue, and features a subtle embossed pattern that is inspired by the local street maps. The light embossing gives the boxes a “linen-like” texture and also establish the grid that the entire design is built around. This grid is emphasized by the placement of perpendicular lines which run across the packaging in both vertical and horizontal directions. A very tidy and organized framework that sets up the entire aesthetic. Design Bridge has taken the layout from the outside box packaging and placed it almost identically onto the product bottles themselves. The bottles are designed in a complimentary, paler shade of blue which sits creates a royal and refined color palette when each is placed next to each other. A really beautiful accent to the color scheme is the addition of a brass-copper foil on the outside boxes, placed in a thin stripe along the bottom, and stating the product name. The inspiration for this design element shows that Design Bridge has left no stone unturned when researching Floris’ history to create the new identity for The Gentleman Floris. The brass-copper strip on the packaging is a reference to brass detailing that was noticed in the shop-front's historic window frames. Such a tiny fact, but one that made a big impact. 

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“We were struck by the brass detailing of the shop-front’s historic window frames and a direct reference to this - a brass-copper strip that runs across the front of all the packaging designs – became an important element of the range’s identity.”The overall design work is refined, and expresses the high-quality of the product. The typography treatment is clean and easy to read, every letter set perfectly in place. Sitting above this typography, crowning the top of the packaging are two prestigious royal warrants, which include “Perfumers to HM The Queen.” Design Bridge has included this important element of the Floris’ heritage into the design, but treated it in an understated way, quite a departure from previous packaging. The Gentleman Floris line is refined and stylish. Design Bridge has done a wonderful job telling the Floris story of the past while also creating a new place for the line in the contemporary market of the 21st century

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Designed by Design Bridge

Client: Gentleman Floris

Country: United Kingdom

City: London