Opposites attract with new skincare and fragrance brand Colekt, as the potent power of natural ingredients is contained within minimalistic packaging inspired by urban architecture.
Launching in spring 2020, the Swedish brand’s first unisex collection features a set of three fragrances and a streamlined skincare regiment, guaranteed to boost natural beauty without overwhelming your day-to-day routine.
The skincare line benefits from modern advancements and time-tested ingredients, as nourishing formulas that help skin maintain radiance and delay aging are vegan, void of any toxins or pollutants, and derived entirely from nature.
Colekt launches with a six-piece “Scandi Routine” containing cleansers, exfoliators, face oils and balms, that take inspiration from contemporary living around the world, as well as the simplistic beauty and efficiency of the Scandinavian nature.
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The fragrance collection is created in three different expressions, La Chambre Stockholm, Persona, and Void. All are rooted in the contemporary art scene in Stockholm while taking inspiration and expressions from around the world.
Persona, for example, takes its name from Ingmar Bergman’s cult film, while scent notes of lime blossom and mock orange come from far more distant lands. Persona aspires to let people experience the meeting of nature and urban escapism, all the while exploring who you are and want to be.
The name Colekt comes from the idea of collecting nature into a bottle, much like selecting green sprigs of the Nordic forest to arrange in a vase back home. This meeting point of nature and urban design underpins the brand’s ethos, as the founders are heavily inspired by design, art, fashion, and architecture, as well as driven by a need to create vegan active formulas.
They worked in close collaboration with design agency ACNE to define the brand’s bold yet minimal graphic identity. Grey glass bottles work to protect their contents from sun damage, whilst simultaneously evoking the Strindberg suite of paintings of the Stockholm archipelago. The matte uniformity of the hue across the skincare collection looks strikingly industrial, deliberately at odds with the conscientious small-batch manufacturing the company has opted for.
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There is a harmony reached at the meeting point of the Nordic archipelago’s wilderness and its urban cities, just as there is harmony in Colekt’s restrained and structured packaging that contains multitudes of flora.
References to art are felt in the spherical shapes of the bottles and lids, which seem balanced yet slightly out of proportion to one another, like a cubist’s painting where shapes dance in constant tension. The logo is inspired by expressionism, with heavy brushstrokes and a dynamic energy that conveys a playful mood.
Jelena Loutchko, Designer at ACNE, said of the collaboration and creative process: “We approached the identity development using a refined visual direction to ensure quality and craftsmanship for the overall identity image of Colekt. Our inspiration was referencing nature, elevating the ingredients of the products and the overall company values. The process has been very collaborative from initial stages to final realization.”
Simply Scandinavian at its core, the brand’s functional and simplistic approach to beauty is sure to win it legions of followers, while its referential and minimal design might just see it displayed in bathrooms long after the bottle is empty – a true sign of a minimalist package we love.
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Colekt is launching later this Spring 2020.