Onirik. This textile project was born during my Masters in Art Direction. Within the framework of a subject taught (Creative Technique), the aim is to create a project in a group and to take charge of its entire creation. So 2 of my friends (who are now my collaborators) and I came up with the idea of creating a real project.
As all 3 of us are fascinated by the world of fashion and especially streetwear, the idea of creating an independent streetwear clothing brand was an obvious one! It's a great way of expressing ourselves in this society and linking 2 passions: design and fashion.
So why Onirik? Onirique is an adjective that refers to dreaming or dream-like mental experiences.
The overall design will be characterized by a black and white color palette, creating a dark, elegant ambience. This will be complemented by a pink color palette to create contrast and echo the dream and its world. For each new capsule we design, we will develop unique art directions, playing with a variety of colors and graphic elements, to better match the specific content of each capsule: each capsule will have its own visual identity while remaining in harmony with our overall design.
We already had a very specific idea for the logo: to combine a relatively complex typography (solid, delicate, serif) with a memorable, recognizable icon. We decided to buy the Reliora typeface, on which we made a number of modifications to the serifs of the lettering, such as the I or the K, to make it more distinctive.
As for the icon, it represents several things depending on how you look at it: an eye, an infinite cycle, ying and yang, or a planet encircling a star. The advantage is that everyone can bring their own vision to it, because as with onirism, the definition is unique to each individual.
For the first collection, we experimented a lot : lettering and distortions based on predefined words that echo the dream, with our shade of pink and we put it on to 2 t-shirts : 1 white and 1 black, which was our first idea : creating t-shirts and yes, 2 unique t-shirts only.
So we kept 2 designs: one of a character standing at the top of a cliff, accompanied by a text about dreaming, and another, more refined, of a levitating character with the famous word "dream".
Let's try it on mockups!
Once we've validated these designs, there's a whole materials intelligence phase that begins. Screen printing, embroidery, puff printing... Everything is meticulously thought through to ensure a successful design correlation.
There's also a lot of work to do with labels, measurements, sizes, regulations...
And once all this has been thought through, worked on and reworked... we arrive at our final technical data sheets, ready to be sent to the factories.
I will skip you here numerous episodes of management, marketing, monitoring, research, information, laws, commercial policies, meetings, exchanges with global factories, internal and external communication, failures, website creation, packaging, hosting providers, customs complications, finances...
Creating a clothing brand isn't just about creating t-shirts in 2 weeks. It's much more than that ! It involves calling on many skills that are absolutely not just design. The proof is: since October 2023, the idea has been launched and it is only since June 2024 that we have received the 3rd samples of our t-shirts, the most successful.
It ultimately takes us 9 months of time to set up a micro business, create communication channels and ideas, a digital point of sale, visuals of all kinds, emails, assign us roles, take charge project management via external software, communicating with service providers and so on...
But there it is, our 2 t-shirts are finally created !
@onirikclothes
onirikclothes.com
