The brief

Butet is a luxury saddlery brand, with Hermes as its main competitor. In 2019, they propose us a brief in the form of a competition within my school. Butet realizes every year huge barrels in which they deliver the saddles of horses. Each year, the design of this barrel changes, and is then used on the sales stand, the show jumping or even their communication in a wider way. It is a bit emblematic within the brand, as the barrels become collector's items for the riders.

Cette année là, ils souhaitent alors que nous nous attelons à l’exercice. Nous avons complètement carte blanche, les seules contraintes sont les suivantes : penser le design en amont pour une forme cylindrique, penser également à la technique d’impression qui est de la sérigraphie et enfin n’utiliser que deux couleurs, correspondant aux couleurs de Butet. 

In addition, the request was to create a design that "speaks to riders" and illustrates the high quality of the product. Indeed, the saddles sold are reserved for connoisseurs with the means.

My answer

I then stopped on the following sentence "which speaks to the riders", I wondered how I could transcribe a design which would make a particular wink to them. Then I discovered a whole graphic language present on the equitation learning diagrams. Indeed, riders must learn figures at the beginning of the discipline, such as the half-volte, the 8 of figure...

These figures are schematized to illustrate their trajectory in the carousel. I used these diagrams to create the skeleton of my creation. Then, I stylized other emblematic elements of the riding competitions such as the buttons on the polos, or the bits used for the competitions.

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“The finesse, the curves, the points, the details transcribe the necessary rigor of the discipline of riding, all in a composition that speaks to the riders.”

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The reward

Following this contest, I got the first place. My design was then selected and used for the barrels, on the sales stands, on their instagram, or their website. It was the very first professional recognition for one of my creations.