New Work: Kanuhura Resort
John Rushworth has designed the identity and signage for Kanuhura, a luxury resort on a remote atoll in the Maldives. It was one of the first five star hotels in the region and is the most remote in its class. It is further distinguished from its competitors by being the only one to have been developed locally rather than by an international hotel group.
Authenticity and remoteness provide the key to the resort’s success and the basis for Pentagram’s ‘Castaway Chic’ brand positioning. This celebrates the contrast between simple desert island living and five star luxury.
It is expressed by a range of brand elements: a ‘hand-woven’ ‘K’ monogram with a repeat pattern device associated with luxury brands; a bespoke alphabet made of palm leaves, inspired by a ‘welcome’ message on the designer’s bed; colours evocative of white sand contrasted by aqua sea, sunsets and local spices. The theme continues with hand stitched ‘recycled’ leather holders for information – actually made exclusively by Bill Amberg, ‘wood effect’ stationery and driftwood signage made in the islands craft workshops.
Rushworth’s three-part advertising campaign, ‘Made in Kanuhura’, is a photographic exploration of three elements abundant on the island: wood, cotton and leaves. A girl luxuriates beneath a bamboo shower, another wears a castaway cotton dress, a third sports a chic palm leaf hat. A crafted mailer shares this imagery and arrives in a wood effect envelope with elegant seal.
Sun Resorts’ ownership of the property is noted in the advertising by the hotel’s map bearings – a device previously used by Pentagram to identify their ownership of sister property, Le Touessrok in Mauritius.
