Studio Nari gave Modular by Mensah an identity whose type slots together like furniture

Kusheda Mensah, a British-born Ghanaian designer of smooth, curvy modular furniture, wanted a rebrand that felt unique, inherently hers and ready for international showcases.

An identity as modular as the furniture: an MBM monogram of interlocking characters and a custom typeface whose curves and sharp edges slot together like pieces.

Studio Nari and type designer Margot Leveque built the MBM monogram so each character appears slotted together, drew extra-large Modular glyphs that anchor to page edges like furniture dressing a room, and tied a changing colour palette to each new collection.

The system flexes across exhibitions, print and digital while staying connected to each new collection — It's Nice That presented it as a model of playful, humanistic identity design.

Modular by Mensah is the furniture and lifestyle label of British-born Ghanaian designer Kusheda Mensah, whose pieces are smooth, curvy and modular. After working together for over a year, Studio Nari — the studio Caterina Bianchini relaunched from her own name in February 2020 — was tasked with a full rebrand: a bespoke typeface, a logo and a language that could translate across the pieces themselves and across exhibition, print and digital. Mensah felt the brand needed elevating for its next stage of growth, aligned with her own vision as the designer.

The identity is built on modularity, matching the brand's name and ethos. The logo is a monogram 'holding the characters MBM', styled so each piece looks slotted together into the full form. With type designer Margot Leveque — an It's Nice That Ones to Watch 2021 alumna and a trained typographer who redraws Nari's sketches — the studio created a custom typeface named Modular: humanistic curves representing bodies moulding into furniture, sharp edges reflecting modular forms, packaged as extra-large glyphs that look like pieces of furniture on the page.

The typographic system acts as 'furniture across the layouts', anchoring to the top or bottom of compositions or becoming framing devices, so the type dresses the page the way furniture dresses a room. A colour palette that changes with each collection keeps the identity feeling alive and connected to Mensah's newest work. Nari also hid small subliminal details throughout, hoping people would see more in the designs over time and want to interact with the brand further.

The brand's product and its name share one idea — modularity — so the identity was built out of that same structural idea instead of a decorative style applied on top.

The rebrand was timed to the studio's own evolution: Nari had relaunched in 2020 with a more humanistic, artistic approach, and Mensah needed an identity that felt personal, not generic.

Collaboration structure mattered: Nari's long-standing working relationship with Leveque let the type be developed expressively, through many collaborative stages.

When the product has a structural idea — modularity — build the identity out of that same idea rather than decorating around it.

It's Nice That featured the system in June 2021 as the studio's latest endeavour, alongside Nari's growing client list of the time — Somerset House, the Barbican, Apple, D&AD New Blood 2021 and Vogue Singapore. The studio described the identity as designed to reward attention over time, with details people discover gradually, and as a foundation for Modular by Mensah's international showcases.