JEWELRY
FOR THE NEW ERA
We’re sorry to break it to you, Marilyn, but diamonds are no longer a girl’s best friend. Nor will they ever be again. In 2021, jewelry isn’t what it used to be. They’re not whims. They’re joys. They’re not a badge of social status. But fashion accessories available to everyone. They’re not inherited. They’re renewed with each new season. Or sold on Wallapop when you get bored of them. They’re not kept under lock and key. But rather left on the sink. Or forgotten on the bedside table of a Tinder hookup.
Client: JOYS
Designer: WANNA
In this globalized, ephemeral and contradictory world, people need more than ever to feel unique and authentic. We want to differentiate ourselves at all costs and want everything to have our personal stamp. In this context, jewelry is no longer synonymous with elegance. Instead, they become a tool for self-affirmation, individuality, style and expression. And, that is the conceptual breeding ground of JOYS.
JOYS empowers young people through the power of jewelry. A strategic positioning that breaks away from the direct competitive environment and makes JOYS the jewelry for the new era, as its brand slogan warns: jewelry for the new era.
JOYS lands in Madrid, with a will to expand, thanks to the entrepreneurs Carlota Pérez and Juan Ricardo Hidalgo and WANNA, the studio specialized in the creation of brand stories, chosen to develop the comprehensive branding
and experiential interior design project.
A BRAND WITH A LOT OF TRAP AND CARATS
JOYS bursts in with a new discourse and an unprecedented, disruptive and experiential vision, based on the graphic and verbal language of the new generation. A generation that the jewelry sector, classist and conservative by definition,
has been turning its back on for years.
Members of this new generation do not consider that luxury has to be elegant. In fact, to the dismay of the purist gaze, their idea of luxury is closer to (the misnamed) slumming. Leather and tracksuits are not only compatible, they are very gucci, that is to say, they are fine. Nothing prevents them from wearing a handbag worth thousands of euros (or an obvious counterfeit) and flip-flops from the Chinese bazaar store. Gold chains, the thicker the better. And JOYS celebrates all that.
Based on this ratchet esthetic, WANNA created the brand’s visual identity. To do so, using the Monument Extended family, the studio created a compact, quilted-looking typeface, reminiscent of trap artists outfits and the sets of their music videos. In the center of each letter a sparkle has been incorporated that evokes the shine of jewelry and that forced and excessive world of flexers, meaning those who have the money, are cool and flaunt it. For the
secondary typeface, they went with Hatton.
From a chromatic point of view, JOYS is a fresh, powerful and free brand, where there is no room for statism. Where now there is green, orange or purple, in the course of time there may be other colors. The potential audience evolves. Their tastes and interests, too. And JOYS is going to evolve with them.
The brand’s graphic universe contrasts the compact, quilted logo with fine lines reminiscent of the security
gates of a gold dealer. This street aesthetic is reinforced with black-and-white photographs on which the colored jewelry stands out. And in which the models are women of ambiguous beauty. Because JOYS is an inclusive and diverse brand, where the boundaries of gender and class are blurred.
THE AUTHENTIC URBAN JEWELRY
The first JOYS jewelry store could have opened on any trendy street in Madrid. But true to its urban philosophy, it is on the other side of the Manzanares River: in Usera. A neighborhood that celebrates the Chinese New Year. Where laundry is hung out on balconies. Where teenagers gather to smoke and listen to music, like that of C.Tangana. Costumbrist scenes of great purity (so authentic), engraved in the collective imagination of this generation, in which WANNA anchors its proposal. And as such, there will be no Holly Golightly coming here to fantasize about diamonds, dressed in a little black dress, sunglasses and a cup of coffee. Because JOYS diamonds are not to be dreamt of. They’re meant to be worn. In pairs. And whoever shows them off knows that they are authentic, even if they have no carats.
COSTUMBRISMO
IS IN THE INTERIOR
WANNA builds the interior design proposal of JOYS with all this costumbrismo elevated to the conceptual level. A provocative proposal in which different trends seen in the streets are brought together, but also in different sectors such as fashion, art, design and gastronomy.
Thus, the walls and the central display, or rather the central bathroom cabinet, are covered with gray square tiles. The choice of this popular, everyday decorative code is inspired by those “everyday” scenarios in which trap stars are seen, both in their social media and in their music videos. A round mirror suspended from a rapper’s “chain” presides over the space. In gold, of course. Surrounding the central display are two methacrylate totems containing rubber ducks, and four others in which the flash we saw in the brand typography can be seen.
WANNA has also made bold use of materials and textures. The quilted effect of the logo is materialized on the ceiling and in the store window with real quilting, in silver. The purple metallic ceramic floor was created ad hoc for the space. As were the gray walls from which XXL diamonds sprout. The mix of materials and textures is completed with a nod to the neighborhood “Gold Dealer”, in the form of giant ingots made of mirror effect Homapal and in the forceful grille.
Finally, WANNA has designed an ad hoc olfactory experience in the space (an unmistakable hallmark of the studio). JOYS could have an intoxicating aroma, one of those that remain impregnated in your clothes. Or a sweet scent, of a streetwear fashion franchise. But WANNA wants there to be no need to ask “what does it smell like?”. Because JOYS smells like you smell when you get out of the shower. Clean. An aromatic ambiance that provokes an intentional disorientation that is extremely familiar and reinforces the conceptual proposal.
