25AH’s tactile identity for Italiano shapes a satisfying world for the restaurant to inhabit

“Authenticity was a keyword from the start,” Designer Joakim Eriksson tells us, “and it was important for both us and the client that the restaurant was true to its origins,” discussing the welcoming identity for family-owned Italian restaurant Italiano, created by Stockholm-based multidisciplinary design agency 25AH. “In our research, we identified an expression relatively unique to Italy,” he continues, noting the defining inspiration behind the identity: modernist shops and wayfinding signs. “It is also an expression that is still largely present in several international Italian brands,” he adds, “this gave us something that took us a step further away from the restaurant’s previous, more classical identity without losing the feel of Italy.” As a result, Italiano’s brand is innately physical, manifesting in satisfying, tactile touchpoints, from neon signage and embossed menus to bespoke mosaic tiling. This physicality not only references the pre-digital nature of its inspirations but dramatically contributes to shaping a unique world for the brand to inhabit – one that embraces the past, shaped by a contemporary manipulation. Italiano’s primary expression of its inspirations arrives typographically, through a customised cut of Buzz from ECAL and Klim’s Founders Grotesk as the typefaces of choice. “We wanted the logo to be a natural part of Stockholm’s restaurant world,” Eriksson explains, “alluding to our previous references in a modern way by being confident and inviting at the same time.”