It is not the formula but the bottle that is meant to stand out first: the American hair care brand Funner from New York is launching this month with 21 products – and is putting packaging design at the beginning, not the end, of brand development. Responsible for this is the Paris-based design agency M/M (Paris), whom co-founder Jonah Kaner brought on board with the brief to make more of the packaging than a mere shell for the contents.
„Funner was more of an art project,“ says Kaner, son of Oribe founder Daniel Kaner. He built the brand with his father and his mother, makeup artist and entrepreneur Sonia Kashuk. Haircare has recently felt cold and clinical, he says – he wanted to bring back more emotion and an artistic signature. „From the beginning, it wasn't just about designing packaging around formulas, but creating a graphic language that can sustain the entire brand.“ The products should feel like objects with personality: something you notice in the salon, want to pick up and remember.
Bottle shape as a means of recognition
The design vocabulary of M/M is deliberately tactile: curved bottles, wavy, arched edges, expressive motifs and a colourful, circular trademark that ties the products together. Packaging and branding come from a single source; the agency is responsible for the complete visual identity. This is crucial for shelf impact – with Funner, recognition is not achieved solely via the label, but through the shape of the container itself. The market launch is accompanied by a campaign by British photographer Jamie Hawkesworth, meaning that packaging, graphics and imagery form a cohesive system.
Despite all its visual appeal, the project is not limited to that. The 21 products were developed in collaboration with stylists and are based on real salon experience; the formulations are free from sulphates, parabens and silicones, and cover colour protection, scalp care and hair hold. „A salon product has to perform under pressure,“ says Kaner – across various hair types and applications, while at the same time it must „feel nice“. The modularly conceived range extends from the universal everyday serum „Fixer“ to the curl texturiser „Better Butter“. Funner is available via shopfunner.com as well as selected stores and salons.
Packaging as an art project
„Funner was more of an art project,“ says Kaner, son of Oribe founder Daniel Kaner. He built the brand with his father and his mother, makeup artist and entrepreneur Sonia Kashuk. Haircare has recently felt cold and clinical, he says – he wanted to bring back more emotion and an artistic signature. „From the beginning, it wasn't just about designing packaging around formulas, but creating a graphic language that can sustain the entire brand.“ The products should feel like objects with personality: something you notice in the salon, want to pick up and remember.
The design vocabulary of M/M is deliberately tactile: curved bottles, wavy, arched edges, expressive motifs and a colourful, circular trademark that ties the products together. Packaging and branding come from a single source; the agency is responsible for the complete visual identity. This is crucial for shelf impact – with Funner, recognition is not achieved solely via the label, but through the shape of the container itself. The market launch is accompanied by a campaign by British photographer Jamie Hawkesworth, meaning that packaging, graphics and imagery form a cohesive system.
