Ruta Reifen
Behind the Brand
Ruta grew up by the Mediterranean and draws inspiration from the flowing lines, endless shapes and colors of underwater forms. You can quickly see this come through in her work – from the bright gemstones that she uses to the coral-like textures that she carves by hand. So we knew that the ocean needed to serve as inspiration for her new brand identity.
For the primary logo’s typography, we used a timeless font and customized a few of the letters to have smooth, unexpected curves. This subtle change makes the logo feel soft and comfortable – conveying the way that Ruta’s jewelry feels when worn.
And for the secondary logo, we designed a coral icon to reference the ocean – Ruta’s main source of inspiration. The icon’s shape also resembles a stone setting on a ring, helping to connect everything together for the brand.
Building an Online Experience
Ruta’s old website was built on Squarespace and felt more like a landing page than an ecommerce store. Although she had relied on wholesale partners and in-person markets for much of her sales, she knew that it was time to shift her focus to ecommerce after the pandemic. So our primary goals with the redesign was to make navigation and shopping as easy as possible for customers, while also celebrating the style of her work and who she is as an artist.
We built her website on Shopify using the Broadcast theme and added custom code to make it feel aligned with her new branding. We also added custom-built sections to the theme (like an interactive moodboard) to create a more engaging online experience that would stand out among other jewelry designers.
