Proposition: Happiness and harmony
Studio: Paul Belford Ltd
Date: 2019
Busaba is a group of Thai restaurants across London, founded by Alan Yau in 1999. Our rebrand coincided with Busaba’s 20th anniversary and was part of a drive to reenergise the brand while celebrating its 20-year legacy. The brief was to create an identity rich in meaning, reflecting Busaba’s founding Buddhist philosophy.
The new logo represents a flower, alluding to the fact that ‘Busaba’ can mean ‘flower’ in Thai. It also references the shape of the gerbera flowers that greet guests in every restaurant. These symbolise impermanence and serve as reminder to live in the present moment.
The petals of the flower logo are heart-shaped, drawing on two of the important philosophies that inform Busaba’s culture: ‘sookjai’ and ‘namjai’. ‘Sookjai’, meaning ‘happy heart’, has similarities to the Western idea of mindfulness. Meanwhile the principle of ‘namjai’, or ‘water of the heart’, encourages taking pleasure in acts of hospitality.