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For: Owners of furniture stores and showrooms who want to build a brand with character.
Naming and Brand Identity for a Designer Furniture Store: How Desondo Grew from One Showroom into a Network Across Four Cities
Krasnodar, 2013. A new designer furniture store, one location, no name, no style. Today, Desondo operates in four cities, has delivered over 2,000 projects, and launched its own manufacturing.
Project Fact Sheet
Desondo — designer furniture, lighting, and décor store
Business Type: Furniture retail; HoReCa segment
Business Scale: 4 cities, flagship showroom of 2,000 sq m, over 5,000 products in assortment
Business Scale: 4 cities, flagship showroom of 2,000 sq m, over 5,000 products in assortment
- ChallengeTo create a brand with a European character for a new designer furniture store — without a ready-made name or visual language.
- SolutionNaming, positioning, and brand identity. Scope: naming, logo, 2 typographic systems, letterheads, business cards, loyalty card, packaging, branded merchandise, and uniforms.
- Result4 cities of presence. 2,000+ completed projects. Own manufacturing since 2020.
Timeline: 60 days
Key highlight:
During the naming phase, the client immediately settled on two of the proposed options.
'Amsterdam' became the company’s legal name. 'Desondo' became the brand name. Both have now coexisted for over a decade.
'Amsterdam' became the company’s legal name. 'Desondo' became the brand name. Both have now coexisted for over a decade.
Results
- 4 citiesKrasnodar, Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, St Petersburg
- 2,000+completed projects for restaurants, hotels, and private interiors
- 5,000+products in assortment
- 2,000 sq mflagship showroom
According to the official Desondo website. The brand was created in 2013 and scaled organically without changing its visual system.
Lead
In 2013, a designer furniture store appeared in Krasnodar without a name. The company already knew what it wanted: to work with both private customers and professional clients — restaurants, hotels, developers. The only thing missing was a brand that could speak to both.
In this case study: how the right question about naming gives birth to an entire visual system, and why naming is not the first step on a checklist, but the point from which everything else grows.
Lead
In 2013, a designer furniture store appeared in Krasnodar without a name. The company already knew what it wanted: to work with both private customers and professional clients — restaurants, hotels, developers. The only thing missing was a brand that could speak to both.
In this case study: how the right question about naming gives birth to an entire visual system, and why naming is not the first step on a checklist, but the point from which everything else grows.
Table of Contents
A Store Without a Name: What Lay Behind the Brief to 'Look European'
Two Audiences with One Request
How a Single Word in Esperanto Became the Brand Name
Metaphor as Letterform
How the Brand Lives in Space: From Business Card to Consultant's Jacket
Ten Years Without a Rebrand: What Happened to Desondo After Launch
Two Audiences with One Request
How a Single Word in Esperanto Became the Brand Name
Metaphor as Letterform
How the Brand Lives in Space: From Business Card to Consultant's Jacket
Ten Years Without a Rebrand: What Happened to Desondo After Launch
A Store Without a Name: What Lay Behind the Brief to 'Look European'
The company 'Amsterdam' was entering the Krasnodar designer furniture market. The niche looked promising: there were virtually no prominent players with a strong brand, buyers with good taste and budget were looking for something beyond the shopping centre, and restaurateurs and hoteliers needed a supplier who understood the difference between 'beautiful' and 'beautiful within a venue's concept'.
The brief was short: create a brand that would be perceived as European. Behind it lay three specific requirements. First — a name that is memorable and sounds neutral to different audiences. Second — a visual language equally convincing in a private interior and a restaurant. Third — a style not tied to current trends: a designer furniture store cannot repaint itself every two years.
The brief was short: create a brand that would be perceived as European. Behind it lay three specific requirements. First — a name that is memorable and sounds neutral to different audiences. Second — a visual language equally convincing in a private interior and a restaurant. Third — a style not tied to current trends: a designer furniture store cannot repaint itself every two years.
Two Audiences with One Request
Desondo’s buyers fall into two camps with different lives but one thing in common: they don’t want what everyone else has.
Private customers care about how their home looks. They read about interiors, bring ideas from travels, and are willing to wait for an order if the piece is worth it. What matters to them is that an item was made by a designer, not a nameless factory.
Professional clients — restaurateurs, hoteliers, developers — look at furniture differently. Every chair in their establishment is an element of the concept. They need a supplier with experience in large-scale projects, the ability to manufacture to specific dimensions, and an understanding of what installation in an operating restaurant entails.
The brand had to speak to both and not look like a compromise to either.
Private customers care about how their home looks. They read about interiors, bring ideas from travels, and are willing to wait for an order if the piece is worth it. What matters to them is that an item was made by a designer, not a nameless factory.
Professional clients — restaurateurs, hoteliers, developers — look at furniture differently. Every chair in their establishment is an element of the concept. They need a supplier with experience in large-scale projects, the ability to manufacture to specific dimensions, and an understanding of what installation in an operating restaurant entails.
The brand had to speak to both and not look like a compromise to either.
How a Single Word in Esperanto Became the Brand Name
Naming for a designer furniture store is one of those rare cases where the right name immediately provides a metaphor that then permeates the entire visual system.
The SICHKAR GROUP team proposed several directions. The client settled on two and decided to use both. 'Amsterdam' worked well as a legal name: a European city, associations with design and openness. For the brand name, they chose Desondo.
The word is assembled from two parts:
Literally: 'on the wave of design'. The name is pronounced the same in Russian and English, carries no excess associations, and is not tied to any single country. Exactly what a store with European positioning needed.
Most importantly: the name already contained a form. A wave. And that immediately answered the question of what the logo should look like.
The SICHKAR GROUP team proposed several directions. The client settled on two and decided to use both. 'Amsterdam' worked well as a legal name: a European city, associations with design and openness. For the brand name, they chose Desondo.
The word is assembled from two parts:
- DES — the first part of the word 'design'
- ONDO — 'wave' in Esperanto
Literally: 'on the wave of design'. The name is pronounced the same in Russian and English, carries no excess associations, and is not tied to any single country. Exactly what a store with European positioning needed.
Most importantly: the name already contained a form. A wave. And that immediately answered the question of what the logo should look like.
Metaphor as Letterform
When the name already contains an image, the logo’s task is not to illustrate it but to embody it.
Logo
The logo is typographic: the very shape of the letters is the symbol. Letters softly overlap one another, repeating the movement of a wave. The rhythm created by the logo gives a sense of movement and infinity — an exact reflection of what the store offers: a vast selection, constant renewal, limitless combinations in interior design.
The logo is typographic: the very shape of the letters is the symbol. Letters softly overlap one another, repeating the movement of a wave. The rhythm created by the logo gives a sense of movement and infinity — an exact reflection of what the store offers: a vast selection, constant renewal, limitless combinations in interior design.
Font
Primary font — Fira Sans in four weights: Light, Regular, Medium, Bold. Easily readable at any scale, works both in a catalogue and on a façade sign.
Accent font — Frontage for signage, posters, display tasks. Geometric, with a slight retro mood: adds character without unnecessary noise.
Primary font — Fira Sans in four weights: Light, Regular, Medium, Bold. Easily readable at any scale, works both in a catalogue and on a façade sign.
Accent font — Frontage for signage, posters, display tasks. Geometric, with a slight retro mood: adds character without unnecessary noise.
Brand pattern
Brand pattern — repeating rings with wave-like overlap. A direct reference to the logo: the same logic of overlapping forms. The pattern has no boundaries, scales infinitely, and works in any brand colour. Visually connects all assets into a single system — from an envelope to a uniform jacket.
Brand pattern — repeating rings with wave-like overlap. A direct reference to the logo: the same logic of overlapping forms. The pattern has no boundaries, scales infinitely, and works in any brand colour. Visually connects all assets into a single system — from an envelope to a uniform jacket.
How the Brand Lives in Space: From Business Card to Consultant’s Jacket
Business documentation: two letterhead variants — international and internal; corporate business cards with addresses in Russian and English; personal consultant business cards in 50×90 mm format, allowing any colour combination; envelope with brand pattern on the inside of the flap — a detail that gets noticed.
Packaging: gift bag with pattern on a black background and a jute eco-bag. The customer leaves the store and becomes part of the brand’s street-level communication.
Uniform: logo printed directly on the jacket; employee names on separate badges. This solution eliminates the risk of the uniform being 'forgotten' - the brand mark is inseparable from the garment.
Merchandise: phone cases with the brand pattern. No logo on the case — only the pattern. For those who know the brand, that is enough.
Ten Years Without a Rebrand: What Happened to Desondo After Launch
Desondo entered the market in 2013 as a single showroom in Krasnodar. Over ten years without changing its visual system, the brand has grown to four cities. The flagship showroom now occupies over 2,000 sq m. The company has delivered over 2,000 projects for restaurants, hotels, and private interiors. Its assortment includes over 5,000 products.
In 2020, the company launched its own manufacturing of upholstered furniture and solid wood pieces. In 2022, it opened a ceramics workshop — tableware, planters, handcrafted vases for specific interior projects.
There is also a personal detail. The team that created the brand became regular Desondo customers themselves. The showroom hosted an event — a screening of the ABC Show collection of the world’s best advertising. When an agency's values and a client's values align, the project does not end with the delivery of materials.
In 2020, the company launched its own manufacturing of upholstered furniture and solid wood pieces. In 2022, it opened a ceramics workshop — tableware, planters, handcrafted vases for specific interior projects.
There is also a personal detail. The team that created the brand became regular Desondo customers themselves. The showroom hosted an event — a screening of the ABC Show collection of the world’s best advertising. When an agency's values and a client's values align, the project does not end with the delivery of materials.
Instead of a Conclusion
A brand that does not need to change for ten years is the result of the right sequence: first meaning, then form. Desondo started with a name that already contained a metaphor. The metaphor became the logo. The logo became the pattern. The pattern became the system.
If you are launching a store, showroom, or furniture manufacturing business and want to understand where to start, contact us.
We will analyse your situation and propose an approach on a free introductory call.
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Q&A
Usually three directions, with reasoning for why each does or does not suit the task. In the Desondo project, the client chose two options, and both found their place in the brand’s life. That also happens.
The basic package for a store: logo with variations, palette, typography, pattern, business documentation, packaging, signage, and guidelines. For Desondo, we additionally developed uniforms, merchandise, and loyalty cards. The scope is agreed according to specific needs.
Three signals: the name is difficult to remember or pronounce; it says nothing about what the company does; or the company has grown, but the name remains from a different period. If at least one applies, it is worth a conversation.
Project Team
- DesondoClient
- Ekaterina SichkarFounder, Creative Agency SICHKAR GROUP
- Valeria KuzmaCEO
- SICHKAR GROUPteam
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