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Apixa’i is a studio that understands black hair as an expression of identity and an important symbol of affirmation of black culture. The idea, as a hair salon specialized in black hair, is to encourage self-acceptance and show that black beauty is multifaceted.
For Apixa’i , then, it was realized a naming and visual identity service inspired by the brand’s ideals, bringing the brazilian roots and the black pride as the main concept. The african culture and the brazilian indigenous culture met and intertwined in every detail in this project.
The esthetic concept and brand’s name were developed inspired by the “noite do cabelo pixaim” (night of the pixaim hair) movement, which celebrates black beauty and discusses the various forms of expression of brazilian racism at annual meetings.
The term in Tupi “apixa’i” from which the word “pixaim” was originated was used as a name, meaning curly and voluminous hair. The dynamic isotype uses the apostrophe present in the typography, illustrating the various forms of beauty of the black hair.
The color palette is inspired by pigments commonly present in african cultures, such as the reddish ocher that produces the “Otjize” – a mixture used by the women of the Himba tribe of Namibia – and the white of clay or limestone that, together with the black of the coal, complete the colors that represented Mother Africa in this project.
“My hairstyle goes beyond looks
It represents my culture
Resistance”
Aka Rasta (brazilian rapper)
“I’m Mother Africa where hair matters
All this strenght I bring as an inheritance
Cultivating roots everything will bloom
The black girls with armed hair are rising”
MC Soffia (brazilian singer, rapper)