Land of Gems
Land of Gems
Land of Gems is an e-commerce platform focused on curated vintage apparel, drawing from global travel culture and Japanese vintage sensibilities. The brand sits at the intersection of clothing, memory, and movement — treating garments as artifacts rather than products. The goal was to create a visual identity and digital experience that felt archival and intentional, without slipping into nostalgia or imitation. The visual direction was informed by extensive research into analog materials, including travel ephemera (passports, luggage tags, and transit tickets), shipping labels and customs documentation, and Japanese vintage catalogs and packaging. Historical travel guides and archival manuals
Vintage culture is not defined by aesthetics alone, but by systems of documentation — tickets, stamps, receipts, manuals, catalogs, and ephemera created to record movement and ownership over time. Instead of referencing vintage fashion directly, the strategy focused on the design language of travel and record-keeping — where garments become part of a broader narrative of place, passage, and memory.
The challenge was not sourcing or selling vintage apparel — it was avoiding the familiar tropes of vintage branding: over-styling, faux aging, or shallow references to “heritage.” Land of Gems needed an identity that felt researched, restrained, and authentic — one that honored history without reproducing it literally.
The e-commerce experience is designed to feel closer to browsing an archive than scrolling a shop. Product pages emphasize documentation, provenance, and detail. Navigation prioritizes clarity and pacing. Visual hierarchy allows garments to remain the focal point. The interface supports discovery without distraction.
brown recycled paper and a mono typeface.
