First, I want to apologize for the delayed post, but it has been a busy last couple weeks as my master's program came to an end, and I also want to talk about my time at Parsons...
Part of the process of these diary entries is to launch a consultancy agency for brand identity and brand strategy for emerging designers. The idea came from my graduate academic research and capstone project that I delved into for 8 months at my time at Parsons. As the research and work materialized, Channeling (the consultancy name) was born as the concept and prototype to help emerging designers to stay authentic to their design practice and approach. The reason why this came up as my research in the first place was that I was starting to get tired of the saturation of the market. Nothing felt special, everything looked the same, prices increased astronomically over the last 5 years, and on top of that exclusivity and scarcity was being less prioritized. We maximized profit over product, collaborated with brands that didn't align, and ultimately brands diluted their own sense of specialness.
I realized later on during my capstone project that my research had direct correlation to how I wanted my brand to operate and visualize the long term success for the brand. Naturally, BON became the proof of concept later on in my research during my time at Parsons. The brand name comes from the first half of my name Bon which in my family heritage, each generation either has the first half or the later half of their name be the same across their siblings and cousins. BON really came to the market as an offering for people to consume the highest level of material at a fair value in relation to the market. The reason why the belts became such a success was that I took months to find and connect with a supplier at HCP (owned by Hermes) and I was finally able to purchase the perfect material to create the belt that I wanted to wear everyday and to show the rest of the world. This lead me to utilizing exotics as part of the brand ethos to be able to showcase the luxuriousness of the brand. The many conversations and connections I've made through the material and the product have led to a collaboration with my dear friends Giz and Val in Korea, who own a brand called Cmmawear. The belt to me is not just a collaboration or product, it really is a demonstration of methodology. These are the types of conversations I treasure and value as we continue to value the artistry, craft, material, and quality of what we decide to offer to everyone else.
Thanks for tuning in this week and more to come soon!
BK