Loewe - The House of Innovation

Once upon a time, all things luxurious and fancy came from Italy or France - think Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci and Prada.

One of the outlier brands that caught my eye was Loewe (pronounced low-eh-vay). Loewe stood out in the crowd like a princely warrior, refined and stately. And the love story started with something obscure: the house Logo.

Based in Spain, Loewe was like a gentle sleeping giant with a rich history of 170 years under its belt. Famed for its prime craftsmanship, Loewe is still producing its world-renowned leather goods at its Madrid factory. Although the brand has managed to maintain its luxury status, Loewe has perhaps been drowned out by bigger names like Louis Vuitton and Chanel as well as the changing landscape of the fashion industry.

Jonathan Anderson then came along in 2013 and created a whole new trajectory for Loewe. He reinvented heritage fashion and together with creative agency M/M (Paris) in his rebranding exercise, they gave the luxe house a new face lift to make it hip.

The original Loewe logotype, set in a version of the Bembo font, was re-designed in a typeface inspired by typographer and calligrapher Berthold Wolpe. A brand history reflection found that Wolpe, a German native who emigrated to Britain in 1935 echoed the path of Enrique Loewe Roessberg, the German-born craftsman who led a cooperative of Spanish leather artisans in the mid-19th century and giving it his name. The new typography adapted from Wolpe's 1937 Pegasus font, was a hidden-find discovered in the archives of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The designers built on the font structure, enhanced details digitally and reinforced it to give the house the authority it deserves.