Tetiaroa

Design Story

The Tetiaroa Society is a foundation that manages the island of Tetiaroa, once retreat of the Tahitian royals and more recently owned by Marlon Brando, to guarantee a sustainable developement with a minimal human presence.

We were asked for a new logo that encompassed their values, and the concept of the union and interaction between sea, earth and sky.

In the logo, Tetiaroa is the island in the center, with a fern that shapes a wave crossing it.
Shark and sky shape a continuous line around them as sky and sea almost seem the same at times, looking as one.
The sky is represented by the aniata motif symbolizing both the sky and ancestors as the message of the Tetiaroa Society is to preserve traditions and the environment.
Aniata literally translates as cloudy skies, and it recalls the oceanic clouds that signal islands masses to seafarers.

The frigate bird is symbolic of long distance voyages and of safe return and it's common to all Polynesian cultures.

It was finally chosen a simpler version where wave, fern, and bird are the selected elements to symbolize land, water, and sky: