Berber Essentials

Berber Essentials is a fair-trade organization that sources artisinal goods from Morocco and supports a local community of women.

The founder, Jordan Ivy, was inspired after meeting the Berbers, a community of women living in the High Atlas Mountains of central Morocco. The Berber women shared their stories with Jordan, as well as their difficult history: All the Berber women are divorcees, and thus forced to live in seclusion from the rest of society. These women aren't allowed to work public jobs and many have young children to support. Their only source of income is by making goods: rugs, blankets, argan oil and rose water, which they sell at the local markets.

Jordan's trip to Morocco resulted in her desire to help the Berber women by providing a larger market for these women to sell their handmade goods. Berber Essentials was born.

Jordan started her fair-trade business in 2016 and reached out to CatCoq for branding. We wanted the Berber Essentials brand to be memorable, culturally-relevant, and refined with a touch of whimsy and playfulness.

In essence, the Berber branding reflects the artistry and craftsmanship of the Berber artisans themselves.

In order to stay true to the Moroccan origins of the brand, we decided to incorporate elements that are found in traditional Moroccan architecture, ceramics, and tiles: dome muqarnas, quatrefoils, spirals, and interlaced geometric patterns.

The evil eye remains the focal point of the logo and overall branding. A traditional Moroccan color palette is also applied throughout. The branding is kept fluid so that it may to continue to evolve as the organization grows.

The logo is the first impression of the Berber Essentials brand. The primary logo is refined and simple, but is expanded into a larger tile-inspired pattern to be used in touches throughout the branding. The personality of the brand is hinted at with the primary logo, but shown in full force with the larger decorative mark. Select elements have been pulled from the decorative mark to be used as iconography throughout the website.

Priori Sans serves as the primary and headline typeface. It's a clean, modern font and has a hint of exotic personality without being too overpowering or distracting– i.e. the tails of the Rs in the Berber logo. Libre Baskerville is a classic and legible serif. When combined, the two compliment each other and are elevated to feel timeless with a modern vibe.