Walter Crow

Brand Development & Launch

The challenge for Walter Crow was to create "instant heritage" for a boutique jewelry and apparel brand in Auckland’s competitive high-end market. We weren’t just launching a product line; we were tasked with breathing life into a fictional protagonist—Walter Crow, a wealthy, impeccably dressed drifter.

The goal was to build a brand that felt like a discovery, rooted in a rich, unearthed history of travel journals and personal fragments, to attract a cult following that valued storytelling as much as craftsmanship.

We developed a comprehensive brand ecosystem that treated every product as a "chapter" of Walter Crow’s life. I defined a visual language that combined sophistication with a restless, adventurous spirit, moving beyond a simple logo to create a world of visual motifs.

For the jewelry, we tied each piece to specific, hand-drawn tattoo designs mentioned in the fictional brand narrative, ensuring every item had its own origin story.

This extended into the apparel through bespoke illustrations that felt like sketches pulled directly from a traveler's journal. To complete the immersion, I oversaw the creative direction of all physical touchpoints—from the "found-object" aesthetic of the packaging to the atmospheric retail experience—ensuring that every interaction felt like unearthing a piece of a larger legacy.

The launch of Walter Crow was a resounding success within the Auckland boutique scene, achieving exactly what we set out to do: create a brand with a soul.

Cult Following: The brand rapidly developed a dedicated underground following, with the narrative-driven approach resonating deeply with customers seeking more than just a commodity.
Instant Heritage: By prioritizing storytelling, we successfully positioned a new brand with the gravitas and authority of a decades-old heritage label.
Commercial Success: The brand maintained high-demand status in the Auckland market, with the unique "story-per-piece" model driving strong sell-through across both jewelry and apparel lines.
Critical Recognition: The brand’s unique "made-up fable" was featured in fashion and culture publications, validating the strength of the creative direction and brand world-building.

Project Scope & Assets:

Brand Identity & Narrative

Core Brand World: Development of the "Walter Crow" persona, tone of voice, and overarching narrative framework.
Visual Identity: Creation of the primary logo, secondary marks, and a visual system rooted in "found" textures and classic typography.
Storytelling Motifs: Design of specific visual elements (sketches, journal fragments) used to enrich the brand story across all channels.

Creative Direction & Product

Jewelry Narrative Integration: Concept development for jewelry pieces, linking physical designs to fictional tattoo lore and travel journals.
Bespoke Illustrations: Custom hand-drawn artwork for the apparel line, designed to feel like authentic sketches from a personal archive.
Product Styling: Creative direction for seasonal lookbooks and digital content to maintain the "sophisticated drifter" aesthetic.

Physical & Retail Experience

Packaging Design: Creative direction for a premium unboxing experience that utilized aged materials and tactile "fragments" of the brand story.
Retail Environment: Oversight of the physical store’s visual language, ensuring the interior design reflected the air of an unquenchable curiosity.
Marketing Collateral: Design of printed "travel journals" and personal letters used as promotional pieces to deepen customer engagement.