The article explores the growing trend of design studios launching their own brands, featuring insights from Nihilo, Whitman Emorson, Paleworks, and Two Times Elliott. Each studio discusses their motivations for moving beyond client work into entrepreneurship, citing creative control, long-term involvement, and the desire to apply their branding expertise to their own ventures. The piece highlights how this shift reflects a broader evolution in the design industry toward brand ownership and creative autonomy.
BP&O’s feature by Emily Gosling explores Nihilo’s branding and packaging design for tequila brand Casa Malka. The agency developed a holistic identity encompassing strategy, packaging, structural bottle design, illustration, and 3D art direction in collaboration with CG artist Haruko Hayakawa. The result is a refined, gender-neutral, and minimalist brand world that balances restraint with sensuality.
Israeli studio Nihilo designed the brand identity and bottle for emerging tequila brand Casa Malka, balancing rawness and royalty through contrasting typography, materials, and 3D visuals. The project features typefaces Azeret Mono and Gimlet Display Compressed, a gold wax-sealed bottle, and a virtual world created with 3D designer Haruko Hayakawa. The result is a refined yet edgy identity that reflects the tequila’s dual character.
