And this is exactly where their experience becomes interesting to us. What do you start to see differently when you work in another cultural and creative environment? What do you notice about local brands that we might miss at home? And can any of it be brought into the Czech context without creating yet another copy of something that already works somewhere else? Let’s get into it.
How Did Gypsea Creators Begin?
“Gypsea began back in 2021, when I decided to build something of my own after moving to Sweden. At the time, I was still working with Czech clients on marketing, social media management and creative projects. But Gypsea didn’t yet have a clearly defined shape or direction. It was more of my own creative platform.
The turning point came when Viki and I met in Scandinavia. Finding someone abroad who thinks creatively in a similar way, shares your energy and wants to make things is not a given. But we clicked from the very beginning.
At first, we created together purely for the joy of it. We came up with our own creative projects, experimented, took photographs and tried out new ideas. There was no client brief and no expectations. Gradually, we realised that working together came naturally, that our creative strengths complemented each other, and that we could make something with its own character. That was when we understood it could grow into something bigger. We began shaping Gypsea together into a creative studio, gradually defining our services, our way of working and what makes us different.
Our central idea became a Scandinavian perspective on creativity and brand building. We both live and create in Scandinavia, and every day we’re inspired by its design, aesthetics, culture and way of thinking. We wanted to bring that experience into projects for Czech and Slovak brands. Gypsea Creators didn’t come from a business plan prepared in advance. It grew out of a natural creative connection between two people, shared projects and the gradual realisation that what we were making together could reach much further.
I think the biggest difference isn’t in the aesthetics themselves, but in the way of thinking. Scandinavia certainly has a strong design culture, but what inspires me most is the approach to the entire creative process.
I feel a different pace here and a much more considered approach to the whole creative process. Before anyone starts designing, there’s time for research, data, strategy and understanding the wider context. It’s not just about making something visually beautiful, but above all about making something meaningful that works over the long term. I also love how strong and distinctive a brand’s own identity can be here. Scandinavian design is by no means just minimalism and neutral colours. There’s plenty of playfulness, boldness and individuality.
And that is exactly what we try to bring into our work at Gypsea. We don’t want Czech brands to look Scandinavian. We want to bring them a different way of thinking about their brand and its identity.
A Beautiful Brand Isn’t Necessarily a Good Brand
A new logo is visible. The strategy behind it is much less so. Yet decisions that aren’t immediately apparent often determine whether an identity will work beyond a presentation PDF.
What does the brand want to say? To whom? Why should anyone choose it over the competition? And which parts of its story are worth communicating at all? If there are no answers to those questions, even a perfectly executed campaign can become an expensive way to say something everyone else is already saying.
Gypsea Creators combine strategy with creative direction and execution. Depending on the brief, they may work on an identity, a campaign, photography, video or a brand’s wider communications. The important thing is that these elements don’t have to be created in isolation. A creative concept can shape not only how a campaign looks, but also the story a brand tells and how it introduces itself to its audience.
When a brand comes to you saying it needs a new visual identity or campaign, how do you work out whether that is really the problem? What do you ask clients before you start creating, and have you ever arrived at a completely different solution during a collaboration from the one the client originally came in with?
This is where we think the Scandinavian approach we try to bring into our work really comes through. We don’t start with what we should create, but with why the brand needs it in the first place.
Clients often come to us with a specific idea — they want a new visual identity, a rebrand or a campaign. But first we try to understand what is really behind that need. What isn’t working for the brand right now? How do customers perceive it? Where does it want to go? Is the problem really the visual identity, or is it a lack of strategy, unclear positioning or inconsistent communication?
What inspires us about the Scandinavian creative environment is its emphasis on research, the wider context and a considered process. For us, design isn’t the starting point; it’s the result of strategic thinking.
A good example is our collaboration with the Czech slow-fashion brand Simply Self. Its founder, Veronika, originally came to us thinking she needed a complete rebrand. But through our discussions and a deeper analysis of the brand, we realised there was no need to change everything from the ground up. Simply Self already had character, a strong community and clear values. What it really needed was a stronger strategic foundation, a fresh creative impulse and more consistent communication.
The client is also behind several other brands, each with a different focus, target audience and character. At first glance, there was no obvious connection between them. But we decided to look at the portfolio in a wider context and search for what naturally connected all the brands. We didn’t want to make them look the same or suppress their individuality; we wanted to find a shared idea that would give them a clearer structure.
That led to the concept of Studio Self — an umbrella brand, a kind of shared home under whose roof each brand can operate independently while still belonging to one connected world. That is where we see the value of strategically led creativity. It isn’t always necessary to change everything or start from zero. Sometimes it matters much more to recognise the potential in what already exists, find the connections between its different parts and create a system that lets the brands grow naturally over time.
Show Us Some Real-World Cases
You can talk about strategy in presentations for hours. We’re interested in what happens when it has to turn into concrete decisions: why a campaign looks the way it does, why it was created in a particular place, why a certain format was chosen and what role the studio played in it all.
That’s why we asked Gypsea Creators to share examples that best capture their work. We don’t want to show you just a gallery of pretty pictures. We want to understand the brief, the idea and the decisions behind the result. Because that is usually where the difference between producing content and doing considered creative work becomes clear.
01 / Krušné Bistro
Brand Strategy & Visual Identity
What needed to be solved?
Our brief was to create a complete visual identity for a new bistro in the Krušné Mountains. The brand was starting from scratch, so it was important to find not only its visual expression, but also a distinct character that would grow naturally out of its location while still feeling contemporary and original.
What idea brought it all together?
We wanted to create an identity with a clear connection to the Krušné Mountains, without falling into traditional mountain aesthetics and predictable visual clichés.
The central idea was a play on the name (K)rušné Bistro. We put the letter K in brackets to create a simple but memorable wordplay: Krušné refers to the place where the bistro is based, while rušné suggests a lively place full of people, encounters and everyday energy.
That small detail became the foundation of the whole visual identity. We developed the brackets and typographic idea into a unified graphic system that gives the brand its own character and makes it recognisable.
What did Gypsea Creators take care of?
The complete creative direction and visual identity — from the initial concept through the logo, typography, colours and iconography to applications for menus, packaging, merchandise, wayfinding and other brand materials.
What is most interesting about this project for someone building their own brand?
This project beautifully illustrates a principle we also recognise in Scandinavian design: a strong identity doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does need a clear idea and its own logic.
We didn’t want to create just a pretty logo. From the start, we thought about how the brand would work in the real world — on a menu, a coffee package, a shop window or an employee’s T-shirt.
That is how we created a visual system that is distinctive yet flexible enough to grow with the business.
02 / UGO BALANC — Body in Zen, Life in Balance
Creative Campaign | Campaign Concept & Production
What needed to be solved?
We developed a creative campaign for the Czech brand UGO, focused on its BALANC product range. Our goal was to find a distinctive, memorable way to communicate the idea of balance and a healthy lifestyle.
What idea brought it all together?
We created a central creative motif: a Buddha figure symbolising calm, harmony and inner balance. Alongside it came the tagline “Body in Zen, Life in Balance.”
We wanted to approach healthy living with lightness, perspective and gentle humour. From one central concept, we went on to develop four stories featuring different characters, all connected by the same communication idea.
The campaign’s creative concept, the central Buddha motif, the tagline, art direction and development of the key visual for social-first communication.
What did Gypsea Creators take care of?
That even an established brand can communicate a familiar topic in an unexpected way. A product doesn’t always have to be explained through its features alone. Sometimes a simple idea that creates an emotion and stays in people’s minds is much more powerful.
A strong creative concept should not only be visually interesting; above all, it should be clear, recognisable and flexible enough to work across different communication formats.
What would you pass on to another brand from this experience?
Don’t be afraid to step outside familiar communication patterns and give bolder ideas room to grow. For UGO BALANC, combining a simple idea with humour and perspective worked well for us. Even a familiar topic can stand out when a brand gives it its own unexpected point of view.
03 / Matějovský — Bedroom in the Wild
Creative Campaign | Art Direction & Scandinavian Production
What needed to be solved?
For the established Czech brand Matějovský, we wanted to create an unconventional visual concept that would present its bedding in a setting customers weren’t used to seeing. Our goal was to move product presentation towards more emotional, lifestyle-led storytelling.
What idea brought it all together?
We took inspiration from Scandinavian brands and their willingness to show products outside their usual context. So we decided to move a bedroom straight into the Swedish wilderness: we placed a bed dressed in the bedding in the sea and set it against a beautiful Scandinavian landscape.
When we came up with the concept, this was a fairly unusual approach to presenting home textiles on the Czech market. We wanted to show that even an everyday product such as bedding can be part of a powerful visual story.
What did Gypsea Creators take care of?
The campaign concept, art direction, location scouting, styling, production organisation, and coordination of the photography and video teams in Sweden.
Why did you choose this project?
This project beautifully captures Gypsea’s early days and our joy in creating. A group of creative photographers and filmmakers spontaneously came together around one idea; they loved the concept so much that they wanted to be part of it. There was a huge amount of energy, excitement and a shared desire to make something a little out of the ordinary.
The result was an extensive series of photographs and videos that Matějovský is still using years later — in advertising campaigns, banners, magazines and PR communications.
For us, that is proof that a good creative concept doesn’t have to last for just one season. If it has a strong idea and its own character, it can keep bringing value to a brand long after production is over.
One Project, Different People. No One-Size-Fits-All Team.
Not every brand needs a complete rebrand. Not every campaign needs a twenty-person production crew. And the same team won’t solve every problem. Gypsea Creators build a team around what each project actually needs. Sometimes strategy is the main focus; at other times it’s creative direction, photography, video or a combination of several disciplines.
The advantage of this approach is that solutions can be assembled around the brief instead of being tied to a pre-packaged service bundle. But it also raises a practical question for the client: who holds the whole project together? Who makes sure the final photography reflects the concept, the content aligns with the identity and the different deliverables don’t feel like the work of people who have never met?
How do you choose people for each project, and who makes sure everything holds together? Can you describe a situation where the right mix of people or the connection between disciplines made a real difference to the outcome?
At Gypsea, we work a little differently from a traditional agency with a fixed team. Every project needs a different combination of talent and experience, so we’re building a network of creatives who share our values, aesthetic sensibility and approach to work.
Viki and I provide the overall creative and strategic oversight. From the first brief to the final deliverables, we make sure every discipline is working towards the same idea and that the brand’s communication is consistent.
A good example is our long-term collaboration with Matějovský, for whom we produce campaigns in Sweden. We bring together creative strategy, art direction, styling, photography and video. Everyone brings their own expertise, but together we create one cohesive visual story.
Of course, we face challenges too. Recently, for example, we were looking for a new designer for a long-standing client for whom we’re now preparing a third branding project. A Swedish graphic designer had worked with us on the first two, but this time she couldn’t continue because of capacity. Finding someone who could build on the previous collaboration and also connect with us creatively wasn’t easy.
Finding a talented person is one thing. Finding someone you truly connect with creatively is another. That is one reason we value a friendly environment, open communication and mutual trust. This approach to teamwork is also close to what we appreciate in the Scandinavian creative scene.
What’s Happening Up North Before It Reaches Us?
It’s easy to follow international trends. It’s harder to recognise which ones really matter and which only look good in another social post. Experience in Scandinavia can be useful precisely in making that distinction. The point isn’t to bring every new visual direction to the Czech Republic or start copying brands that are getting attention right now.
It’s more interesting to watch how brands approach identity, customer experience, communication or the product itself — and think about what might make sense in another market.
What has genuinely caught your attention in Scandinavia lately in branding, design or marketing? Pick one specific example Czech and Slovak marketers should be watching. What can we learn from it, and how could it be used without creating just another copy of an international trend?
One of the things that inspires us most about the Scandinavian creative scene is how local creative professionals approach brand building. It isn’t just about following trends or admiring the final aesthetic. We’re interested in the principles, the decisions and the entire process behind the result. That’s why we regularly study case studies from local creative studios. It helps us learn, expand our own expertise and bring those insights into our work for Czech and Slovak clients.
One of our favourite examples is Copenhagen-based creative studio Kontrapunkt, behind projects for leading Danish and international brands and institutions such as LEGO, Ørsted, Danske Bank, the Copenhagen Metro, Mitsubishi Motors and Shiseido. What fascinates us most is their ability to bring creativity, strategic thinking and functional design together into one considered whole. We’re particularly interested in their project for Royal Copenhagen, the traditional Danish porcelain maker with a history spanning more than 250 years.
This project beautifully shows that modernising a brand doesn’t have to mean radical change. Kontrapunkt didn’t try to turn a historic brand into something entirely new. Instead, they immersed themselves in its story, craft tradition and symbolism. They kept the iconic crown and waves that have accompanied the brand for centuries, but gave them a more contemporary and functional form. They paired them with type designed specifically for the brand and connected the whole identity to the story of everyday moments in which porcelain naturally belongs.
And that, for us, is the essence of the Scandinavian approach: It’s not about creating something new at any cost, but understanding what has real value and knowing how to work with it, says Viki.
We think this is an important source of inspiration for Czech and Slovak brands too. Many already have their own history, character or strong product. They don’t need to look for inspiration in another international visual wave. It can be much more interesting to look deeper into their own identity and discover the potential already there.
Inspiration Is Great. But What Do You Do With It?
Scandinavian inspiration doesn’t have to mean that a brand adopts a different colour palette or borrows a visual style that is working somewhere else right now. It’s much more interesting to understand why a certain kind of communication works, how it connects to the brand’s strategy and what could be useful in a different environment.
That is exactly the approach Gypsea Creators take. Their experience in Sweden and Denmark meets the needs of Czech and Slovak clients in real projects — from strategy and identity to creative concepts and campaign production. There is no universal formula that works for everyone; the aim is to find a solution that fits the specific brand, its audience and what it wants to achieve.
For companies thinking about their next stage of growth, it’s a useful reminder: inspiration is most valuable when it leads to a considered decision. Whether it’s how a brand talks to customers, presents its products or creates an experience around them, what matters isn’t the trend itself, but what it helps the brand do better.
Where Do You Want to Take Gypsea Creators?
“Our vision is quite clear. We want Gypsea Creators to become the first choice for Czech and Slovak brands looking to move beyond their local market, discover new creative perspectives and take their brand further through a Scandinavian approach to design, strategy and communication.
Whether it’s brand strategy, visual identity, a creative concept or full production, we want to be the studio that connects the two worlds in which we live and work. We also don’t want to stop at client projects. We’re members of the Czech-Swedish Chamber of Commerce and actively take part in initiatives that support cooperation between the two countries. It matters to us to keep developing our creative craft, building relationships and becoming a genuine part of the Scandinavian environment, not just drawing inspiration from it.
Our ambition is that when a Czech or Slovak brand starts thinking about Scandinavia, Gypsea Creators will be one of the first names that comes to mind. And perhaps even more importantly, we want to keep creating projects with character, purpose and the courage to do things a little differently. That is exactly how Gypsea began, and exactly how we want to continue.
“Our philosophy. The Gypsea way.”
We believe every brand has its own story. Some have been telling it for generations; others are only just beginning to write it. Our job isn’t to rewrite that story, but to understand what makes it unique. That is why we don’t start with colours, typography or the first creative concepts. We start with questions. We want to know where a brand comes from, what it believes in, who is behind it and what place it wants to have in its customers’ lives.
This is where the Scandinavian mindset shows up in our work: an emphasis on research, functionality, authenticity and considered decisions. We believe every creative element should have a reason, and every decision should come from a deeper understanding of the brand. Sometimes that means creating a completely new world. At other times, it means recognising the value in what already exists and giving it new context, energy and direction.
Because good branding isn’t about how a brand looks. It’s about who it really is, what it stands for and how it makes people feel. And that is exactly how we think at Gypsea Creators. We don’t want to create brands that look Scandinavian. We want to create brands with the courage to be themselves.
5 Key Takeaways — Gypsea Creators
01. A different perspective: We bring Czech brands a fresh perspective from Scandinavia — not just an aesthetic, but a different way of thinking about design, communication and brands.
02. Strategy before creativity: We don’t start with the visuals, but with the idea. Every creative decision has a reason, a direction and a goal.
03. Brands with character: We don’t just make brands look good. We build their own world, personality and story — one that leaves people with a feeling.
04. One studio. Many creative minds: We connect talented creatives across Scandinavia and the Czech Republic, bringing clients a range of expertise under one creative direction.
05. Creativity with long-term value: We don’t create only one-off campaigns or content. We help brands build a consistent identity, recognition and long-term value.
