Project Type Archives

A new Sri Lankan style: FMLK editorial content

We’ve been working with the Sri Lankan fashion e-tailer FMLK for a few years now. While the brand uses their in-house promo team for everyday communications, they hire us to articulate the style philosophies and stories behind special collections.

For FMLK it’s important to communicate the inspiration and story behind each collection because this is really what builds the connection between the consumer and the looks they see on the screen. Being a retailer that predominantly online, the entire sales pitch of the product was the content that consumers saw on their screens. So, the challenge for the writer was in keeping things fresh, even when two collections came out each week, and allowing South Asian consumers to see how these cool new styles actually have a story that connects back to their cultures and roots.

In collections like this, the target audience was slightly older in the thirty-somethings; the content had to speak to them, with a degree of seriousness and a sense of cool.
Other collections were more laidback, casual and fun to target the impulse buyers and everyday style junkies who want to wear something nice for the next occasion.
Sometimes, the tone had to take a drastic change when the collections were for kids, or men or under a special theme. Here, the brand values in offering a new Sri Lankan style became the connector; the writer had to maintain this link to maintain brand consistency.

Urban Island; city stories product series

When Urban Island commissioned our studio Public Works to design a product series that captured some of Sri Lanka’s most iconic cities, we were excited for two reasons; it was a project that combined both our individual expertise in writing and visual art, and it was an opportunity for us to crystallise some of our favourite experiences and places in Sri Lanka. The series was to target both Sri Lankans and travellers. We understood that for travellers, the city stories series should be about taking back a fond memory from their time in Sri Lanka. Our strategy for the Sri Lankans, was to make the series about celebrating a memory about their hometown, or a place they have a connection to in their country.

UI-city-prints-art-6UI-city-prints-art-5UI-city-prints-art-4

The challenge for the writer was capture a special story, feeling, icon or an experience about each city, in just a few words; and, because we wanted to make the writing for this project to take the form mini poetry, the challenge also meant there had to be some form of rhythm or rhyme. 

The project was fun to work on, and from what we hear from the Urban Island team, the series is becoming somewhat of a cult favourite among their shoppers.

UI-city-prints-set1

Screen Shot 2019-05-18 at 2.38.50 PM

The success of the series had Urban Island creating a larger product series going from pillow cases, T shirts and bags, to notebooks, mugs and aprons. The city stories series by Public Works is still going strong at the Urban Island outlets.

UI-city-prints-set4UI-city-prints-set6UI-city-prints-set5