The Southeast Asian design scene is burgeoning with new thinking and stellar talent. I have to say I’m a bit jealous. Another installment in their collective book is the branding and interior design for Maison Marou, a cafe, patisserie with a quirky style. One of the things that jumps out for me about most of the work coming out of this area of the world is how holistic the projects are. Nothing is left untouched from interiors, through packaging into apparel and more. For Maison Marou, the design team leverages nostalgic type with hand-crafted type and clean, modern typography to guide emotions and vibes across the many touch points. This may sound chaotic, but it’s executed quite wonderfully as you’ll see below. Their inspiration derived from within the operations of the concept:
We found in Marou’s own ‘Marou-mobile’ (a 1973 Vietnamese La Da Lat), an important symbol, which literally connects the cacao farms to the cafe. The illustrated car, often appears in the space and on packaging, tracing a line that the brand rides, between rugged and sophisticated. Uniforms at Maison Marou are inspired by the linen ‘jungle-shirts’ that the Marou founders wear out in the field.
Beautiful work by Rice Creative out of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
