Recycling materials is often associated with routine, dull processes, yet the Amsterdam brand Unbegun has found aesthetic value even in tarps and worn-out tents. Since 2014, the brand has produced bags and laptop sleeves from fabrics discarded during production or worn down by years of real-world use. Every Unbegun item carries the material’s past, its traces, routes, and lived experiences.
Recently, the company refreshed its style in collaboration with designer Bram Naus. Previously, the logo combined an industrial tone with Amsterdam symbolism, featuring three Saint Andrew’s crosses. The brand team decided to further develop the idea and identify an image aligned with the brand’s worldview.
The new mark is an ambigram. This approach is rare in brand identity, and even rarer when it works convincingly. An ambigram is a word that remains legible when rotated. In Unbegun’s case, the form became a visual reflection of the brand’s core cyclical recycling. Some compromises were unavoidable. The letter g moves closer in shape to q, yet such departures from classical forms are typical for ambigrams. The variant “Unbequn” does not read as a meaningful word, so confusion is avoided, and the concept remains clear.
On the brand’s products, the mark feels natural. Compact ascenders on the letters b and q allow the symbol to be placed on small labels and tags. The new mark is also used in promotional materials. Videos featuring the rotating ambigram create a cinematic effect in which the symbol flips the surrounding space while maintaining an urban tone and referencing material reuse.
The updated Unbegun identity feels cohesive and well considered. The ambigram functions not for spectacle but as a visual expression of the brand’s approach, where form and meaning support each other.
