Kené Life
Client: Kené Life
Year: 2024
Kené Life is a cultural commerce initiative focused on developing, protecting, and creating sustainable commercial pathways for the intellectual property of the Shipibo-Conibo tribe. The project explores how traditional kené artwork can be translated into contemporary products, fashion, and collaborations while ensuring value flows back to the communities and artisans responsible for the work. The resulting brand system balances modern retail sensibilities with a deeper mission of cultural stewardship, reciprocity, and long-term preservation.
The Utility of Scale
Kené Life uses scale to create a clear distinction between the brand itself and the intricate kené artwork created by Shipibo artists. This approach allows the identity to draw inspiration from kené patterns without competing with, or becoming lost within, the richness of the kené intellectual property we are helping to develop and license. The Kené Life brand is deliberately minimal, allowing the complexity, vibrancy, and cultural depth of the artisanal kené artwork to take center stage and draw customers in.
A set of 14 glyphs were developed using a 5×7 grid system, creating a visual language rooted in structure, modularity, and repeatability. This underlying system extends throughout the wider identity, informing logo, typography, iconography, layouts, pattern generation, and graphic compositions. The result is a cohesive visual framework where even the smallest brand details feel connected through a shared geometric rhythm.
Logo Construction
The same grid logic was extended into the wordmark, using a modified version of the Gridular typeface to create a logo that feels both digital and textural. Rooted in the underlying geometric language found within traditional kené compositions, the customised letterforms balance bold simplicity with intricate structure, giving the identity a stark and highly recognisable character while maintaining a strong connection to the artisanal systems and visual rhythms that inspired it.
The Kené Life Brand
The Kené Life identity was expanded to incorporate a broad range of applications, operating both as a contemporary fashion label and as a visual platform for the reciprocal mission underpinning Kené Life, creating a balance between commercial appeal and cultural stewardship.
Photography courtesy of the Kené Rao Foundation.
Products & Packaging
A range of product concepts were developed using patterns created by Shipibo-Conibo artisans, exploring how traditional kené could be translated into contemporary lifestyle and fashion products. These concepts were designed both for direct sale through the Kené Life store and as potential collaborations with larger established brands, creating new commercial pathways for indigenous artwork. Packaging was approached with the same minimal restraint as the wider identity system, allowing the richness and complexity of the textiles to remain the focal point.
